One Piece: A Saiyan's Voyage
by The Archsage
Summary: Those of the D. line aren't fully human. Each one carries the blood of the greatest warrior race to ever exist, the saiyans. Luffy, however is different. He bears the mark of their lineage, and can take on the great form of their great ancestor, the mighty Oozaru. Follow as Luffy tries to build a mighty pirate empire, with him as it's King, as homage to his saiyan ancestors.
1. Prologue

_This is a Challenge from Mellra. It's a rather loose challenge, simply asking for someone to write a story where Luffy is a saiyan, or has saiyan ancestry. I have communicated with him, and we're working together to form ideas for this, though I am the one doing the writing._

 _Rate T, but their may be some elements that stretch this rating, such as language. These are Pirates after all._

 _I will be attempting to update this on a Bi-Weekly schedule, but I don't promise anything. Life has a way of kicking in the back when your not paying attention after all._

 **Disclaimer:** _ **I do not own**_ _ **One Piece, Dragon Ball Z**_ _ **, or anything else that you may, or may not recognize. If you recognize, it's not mine, and it belongs to it's respective creator and/or owner.**_

 _ **~Prologue~**_

Garp sighed as he looked at his young grandson who sat eagerly in front of him, as well as his adopted grandson, Ace. It had been 2 years since Sabo had died, and, quite frankly, Garp was surprised it had taken until last night for Luffy to ever see the full moon.

He remembered the event very clearly. He should, as his memory wasn't that bad yet, and it had only happened the night before.

" _Luffy you little shit, I told you to run! Run like the devil himself is upon you! You need to work up that stamina!" Garp shouted, but Luffy wasn't paying attention._

 _He looked at the boy a little more closely, and noted that his mouth was opened slightly. On top of that, he had an even more blank then normal look in his eyes. Actually, now that he thought about it, the boys sclera was slowly taking over his iris and pupil._

 _He knew what was happening, and he prepared himself for combat. But then, Luffy did the one thing he hadn't expected._

" _I've never seen the moon like this before, gramps." Luffy told him. "I feel... powerful."_

 _Then it happened. His grandsons eyes went completely white, before turning entirely red. He expanded rapidly, his rubber body no doubt making this transformation far less painful, perhaps even painless, then the legends said it would be._

 _Luffy had transformed into a giant ape. The legendary Oozaru._

" _Gramps? Why are you so small?" Luffy asked, suddenly._

Garp opened his eyes, letting the memory fade again. The legends passed down from their ancient ancestor said the form was uncontrollable. But Luffy had controlled it perfectly. His guess was, the Oozaru form heightened a saiyans connection to their instincts, and Luffy relied so heavily on instinct to begin with that he hadn't even noticed a difference.

Ace had said the form fit Luffy, once he'd found out it was Luffy.

He didn't know just how right he was.

"Oy, old man, you said you'd explain to us now what happened to Luffy last night, right? He ate the Gum-Gum Fruit, not the Giant Ape fruit, so it ain't a Devil Fruit ability." Ace stated.

Garp nodded. "That's right. It's the mark of proof of our lineage. The lineage of those who bear the initial D in their name."

Ace frowned. "So... I'm the same?"

Garp frowned. "Not really. Gah, I'll start from the beginning so it makes more sense.

"See, long time ago, during the century the World Government wants to cover up, the Void Century, our mutual ancestor, the ancestor to all those who bear the initial D in their name, landed on our planet, Oceanus. He wasn't a native fishman, or an extremely late human arriva-"

"Wait, what do you mean late human?"

Garp scratched his head. "Uh, well, I dunno the specifics, but humans ain't native to this planet either. Only Fishmen, Giants, Minks, and Merfolk are. Well, of the sentient creatures I mean. Apparently the humans home planet was dying, so they fled. Scattered to the ends of the universe. From what little I know, this planet took two centuries before humans stopped struggling to move in their early years of life, and another century before they didn't even notice the extreme gravity on this planet for most of their lives. Apparently the gravity here is ten times their original planets gravity. Must have gotten really lucky none of the natives found them during that time frame, or there probably wouldn't even be any humans. Anyways, not the point.

"Point is, our mutual ancestor was a saiyan. He arrived claiming his own home planet was destroyed. Long story short, he bred with humans, and, in honour of him, his descendents are all given the initial D in their name. His name was Monkey Daiish. I know all this because I'm one of his direct descendants. One of the few who still bears his original last name, Monkey. He chose it because of the form he could take. The Oozaru. The Great Ape."

Luffy and Ace nodded, though whether Luffy was actually paying attention was another matter entirely.

Garp continued. "To be honest, I wasn't actually sure it was true, but Luffy proved it. I mean, he sort of proved it, being the first since Daiish himself to be born with a tail, but since it could have been a quirk of genetics, perhaps evolution, I didn't want to jump the gun. The transformation certainly makes me think it's true though. But, if it is true, then everything else might be true as well."

"Such as?" Ace asked.

"That saiyans like us, can begin really serious training at a young age. You brats thought you were going through hell before? You're going to be begging me to send you to hell by the time training is done!" Garp shouted, laughing at the end of his sentence.

Ace and Luffy winced, and turned to run, only to find themselves over Garp's shoulders, while he laughed like a lunatic.

 _ **~Four Years Later~**_

Luffy wasn't the brightest guy around. That was for sure. But after hearing all the different tales Garp knew about saiyans that were passed down in their family, Luffy had decided he liked being different from regular people.

Ace was different too, but not as different as Luffy. Luffy had proof he was a saiyan. His tail.

And with all the legends about how great an empire the saiyans had once had before their destruction a thousand years, or more, ago, he'd altered his dream. He wouldn't just become the Pirate King. He'd build a Pirate Empire.

That meant he'd need loyal followers though. People willing to help him. As many as he could gather. Empires were big after all.

"So, what do you think, Ace?" Luffy asked, having explained his plan to Ace. After all, he wasn't very bright. But Ace was pretty smart.

"Well, a Pirate Empire means your gonna need lots of followers. Thousands. You can't fit them all onto one crew. But you can't just start off gathering thousands of people. Think about from the Marines point of view. A powerful rookie pirate gets an armada, and takes the Grand Line by storm? They'd wipe your whole crew out just to prevent another Whitebeard or Kaido from popping up."

"So, I start small?"

"Not really small. Get a large single crew first, and make them powerful. A powerful crew on a single ship is much better to the Marines then a powerful crew spread out over a hundred ships. Plus, it'll be easier for you to slip past them and escape." Ace explained.

"Wow! You're so smart, Ace!"

Ace rolled his eyes. It wasn't smartness. It was common sense. Before Ace could answer however...

"zzz...ZZZ...zzz...ZZZ..."

Luffy grumbled. "Stupid narcoleptic brothers."

Instead of figuring out how many people he should recruit from Ace, by waking him up, he instead left to go train. He loved training. He started with his usual warm-up of running around Dawn Island, beating the crap out the Goa Kingdoms town guards, stealing an entire butcher shops supply of meat, carrying two massive boulders in his hands, and then climbing a cliff with just his tail and feet, while still carrying the boulders.

It was getting harder and harder to find enough to do in a single day to give himself the burn he wanted to feel, but, until his grandpa came back with the heavy weights he'd promised him on his next birthday, he was stuck.

So, after his basic warm-up, he went straight into straining his entire body with Ki attacks.

His grandfather wasn't very good at them, and preferred to rely on using physical attacks, but he'd taught Luffy enough for Luffy to get a good grasp on utilizing Ki.

Luffy had taken to such moves quite well. Ace was pretty good at them as well, but Ace didn't have the same urge to train as much as Luffy. Certainly combat training was something Ace loved, but just training his body? It wasn't something Ace was too big on, except to keep himself fit. But Ace had a natural power that allowed him to stay ahead of Luffy in strength. Garp said it was probably because both of Ace's parents had been of saiyan lineage, as opposed to Luffy, who only had a father with saiyan lineage.

But Luffy worked hard. And his Gum-Gum fruit enabled him to tank damage like nobodies business. Even Ace was hard pressed to beat him. Sometimes, Ace had to resort to using the same blackened fist that Garp used to hurt him.

Ace's was terrible looking in comparison to Garp's however, as Garp's fist would turn completely black. Ace's fist became splotchy with black marks, and then they faded instantly after contact. And he always ended up exhausted after doing so just once.

So, usually, Ace relied on ambush tactics, and back attacks, to get Luffy off guard. While stronger then Luffy, Luffy's ability to tank so much damage made it a chore to wear him out. So, instead, Ace used cheap tricks and dirty tactics to win.

Sometimes though, Luffy could swear he could tell when a back attack was coming.

Not that it mattered much anymore. Ace would be leaving in a few months. He'd turn 17, and then he'd leave to become a pirate. And then Luffy only had to wait another 2 and half years, and he'd get to leave and become a pirate. Garp was insistent that they become Marines, but, frankly, Luffy hated following orders. So did Ace. That's why they weren't going to be pirates on the same crew.

The only thing that would accomplish is both of them drowning at sea on a destroyed ship, fighting over who was captain. If they ever even made it off of Dawn Island.

 _ **~Two and Half Years Later~**_

Luffy stared at his dinghy. He had intended to build a proper ship, but, unfortunately...

Looking far the left, the tangled trees that he slammed together, rammed spikes into as makeshift nails, and threw a huge cloth over, slowly bobbed up and down, as it was caught in the inlet by two rocks.

When he'd asked Makino why it hadn't worked, she'd pointed out that it takes years to be good enough to build a ship, and could easily take weeks, or even months by a team of the most skilled shipwrights to actually build it.

So, instead of his masterpiece of a ship he had been so sure he could build, he'd be setting sail in a dinghy.

There was probably worse ways to begin ones journey to gain the title of Pirate King, and if he thought of any, he'd write them down to prove it.

"Alright!" Luffy grinned at Makino. "I guess I better head out now. Too bad about my awesome ship though. If I coulda built it the way I wanted, I'd ask you to be my bartender!"

She smiled. "I'd have had to decline, unfortunately. The pirate life is not for me. You have fun though. I hope you achieve your dream. I mean, I'm sure you will, but good luck anyways."

Luffy nodded. "Thanks, Makino!"

With that, Luffy set sail. He was barely out into the bay for five minutes before an old friend appeared. The same one that ate Shanks arm, when Shanks had saved him from drowning.

"Helloooo lunch!" Luffy shouted, his hands reaching forwards eagerly. The Sea King, sensing it's imminent demise, fled.

"Awwww." Luffy pouted, before his grin came back. "Oh well. Go, boat! To the Grand Line!"

The boat, understandably, did not respond.

 _ **~Prologue End~**_

There's the prologue.

Since, no doubt people are going to be curious, I'll provide a list of relevant power levels. This chapter, only Luffy is relevant, but, to put into perspective some things, I'll list the average human on DBZ's Earth, and One Piece's Oceanus, as well as the average power levels of Giants, Fishmen, and Merpeople.

 **Power Levels:**

 _Average Human on Earth: 5_

 _Average Human on Oceanus: 50_

 _Average Fishman: 500_

 _Average Merperson: 250_

 _Average Giant: 5,000_

 _Luffy:_ _3,259_


	2. Chapter 1

_**Chapter 1~**_

 **Coby's POV~**

' _Perhaps,_ ' Coby thought to himself, as he watched the young man in the red vest and straw hat argue with a red haired girl, ' _I've made a terrible mistake._ '

Coby had a dream. He wanted to become a Marine. The problem? He'd been an enslaved cabin boy to the Alvida Pirates for at least two years. Maybe three. If the Marines knew this, then he'd be imprisoned at best, and hung at worst. Slave or not, he had, technically, been a pirate.

The young man who sat in the dinghy with him, had saved him from that life.

Sort of.

He'd come out of a barrel, breaking a pirates jaw, and then proceeded to block two swords with his arm. Coby had seen those men fight before, and they pretty tough. Skilled enough to have survived since the time Coby had been forced onto the crew.

Most of the faces he saw these days were newer then his own, but those two who had swung the swords, along with the man whose jaw had been broken, were all survivors. Apparently they were among five of the few who were smart enough to grovel when Alvida was angry, but skilled enough to survive when the Marines came knocking, who had also been part of the original crew, before Alvida had taken over.

Coby knew those men had no qualms about killing, and he knew they were strong.

The first one being taken down in a single hit? Unexpected, but considering none of them had expected a well muscled teenager to burst from the barrel, and sucker punch one of them, it wasn't exactly impossible.

But for the teen in the red vest and straw hat to try and block two swords with just his arm? That should have been impossible. His arm should have fallen into two pieces with him clutching the remainder of his stumped arm in pain. And then proceeded to die as the men hacked at his torso.

But the impossible happened. The swords met the teens arm, and, other then a trickle of blood, as if they'd been sawing at his arm with a butter knife, nothing else happened. Well, not to the teens arm. The swords on the other hand clearly met far too much resistance and were moving far too fast to jerk to a stop. Something had to give.

And, while that something should have been the teens arm, it wasn't. It was the blades themselves. Worn from use, but still lethal, the blades cracked, and broke.

For the first time, Coby had had hope. The men grabbed their friend with the broken jaw, and ran screaming about monsters. And, when Coby saw the teens tail, which he'd actually only noticed at the point, twitch angrily at the term monster, he thought the men might be right.

They were. The teen had demanded he feed him, or be eaten himself. Coby was reasonably sure the older teen was kidding, and was only looking to get food as soon as possible, but he didn't want to take chances. He put away more food then Alvida on a bad day.

And when Coby had decided to be a good person and try to tell this guy to escape or he'd be killed by Alvida, the teen grinned. Apparently, the idea of a fight to the death was far too appealing to just leave.

He'd wondered if the boy was a pirate, and they got into a discussion about goals. Coby was hit three times, and told by the teen that he was pathetic and worthless, and that the teen, who he'd then learned was named Luffy, hated people like Coby.

When Coby realized just how determined Luffy was to achieve his goals, Coby was determined to at least try for his dream.

Everything after that was a blur, but most of Alvida's men weren't breathing after that, and Alvida herself had gone flying into the ocean.

The next thing Coby knew, Luffy had grabbed him and hitched a ride on some red haired girls boat. Well, her hair was technically orange, but people called them red heads anyways.

The girl introduced herself as Nami, after realizing she didn't have time to kick them off her boat if she wanted to escape the Marines herself.

Considering she had a massive bag of treasure and money, Coby figured she'd raided Alvida's ship while the Alvida pirates were attacking. While stealing from pirates wasn't actually a crime, the money did technically belong to someone else, and the Marines would no doubt try and confiscate it. It only made sense that, if she wanted to keep it, she'd need to flee the Marines as well.

And right now, the red haired girl was screaming at Luffy to let her up, while he sat on her back, his tail squeezing her arms together, behind her back.

He flushed at the girls next words.

"Let me up, my tits hurt!" she complained. Since Luffy was sitting on her back, right on he shoulders, and she had a rather generous bosom, Coby could at least see why that might hurt.

She didn't like Luffy's alternative, which was to sit on her chest.

Coby finally had enough when they started screaming insults at each other.

"Could the both of you please shut up? The Marines won't need to see us when they can hear the two of you coming from a hundred kilometres away."

For a second, Coby thought the two might team up and kill him and throw him overboard or something.

Instead Nami settled for glaring up at Luffy, while Luffy nodded.

"Yea. Makes sense. Gramps is supposed to be coming to Shell Town to pick me up in a few days, and he's got just as good hearing as me. If he hears me from that far because he came here early he'll probably launch himself out of a cannon to get to me early."

"Your grandfather's as messed in the head as you are?" Nami sneered.

Luffy shook his head. "Nah, he's worse. He's a Marine. He knows how to be the perfect Marine too, though he refuses to let Old Seagull Man restrain him too much, so he doesn't bother."

"Old Seagull Man?" Coby and Nami asked.

"Sengoku, Fleet Admiral of the Marines."

Nami gaped. "Your grandfather is friends with the Fleet Admiral?"

"Yea. He's Monkey D. Garp, Hero of the Marines, the man who turned down an Admiral position eleven times simply because it's too much work." Luffy said. "We do share the same name, how come you didn't realize that earlier."

Nami scowled. "You only said your name was Luffy."

Luffy blinked. "Oh. I'm Monkey D. Luffy. Nice to meet'cha!"

"Get off of me, and I'll agree." she muttered.

Luffy got up, and held out his hand.

She tried to throw him overboard, but barely budged him. She gave up after that, and took over navigating the boat from Coby.

With her navigating, they hit currents and wind that tripled their speed. Soon enough Shell Town was closing in, and Coby got a bit teary that his chance for joining the Marines was coming soon.

 **~Luffy's POV~**

Luffy grinned as they arrived in Shell Town.

"Now that we're here, don't bother me again." Nami said, before grabbing her big sack of gold, and running.

"Aw, I was gonna ask her if she wanted to join my crew!" Luffy complained.

Coby sighed. "She hates pirates. Why would she?"

Luffy rolled his eyes. "Cause I'm the strongest in the world, and Ace told me all girls love strong guys, and she's a girl."

Coby didn't seem to believe him, but Luffy didn't care. Coby didn't really believe a whole lot.

Poking the kid in the back with his tail, Luffy headed into the city proper.

He grabbed an apple off a stand and glared as the vendor tried to demand payment. He was a pirate. He didn't have to pay unless he felt like it.

The man gave up pretty easily.

"So, didn't that fat whale say something about a Zoro guy who was captured around this place."

The people walking nearby jumped in fear.

Coby sighed again. "He's considered a demon, Luffy. People here are probably still afraid of him. Morgan is-"

The people jumped in fear again, but this time several looked around fearfully, and two of them hit the ground on their hands and knees, bowing.

Luffy grinned. "Wow, these people are pathetic."

The two arrived at the Marine base, and Luffy immediately veered off to the walls surrounding the field where prisoners would normally be allowed a couple hours of fresh air.

"Luffy, why are you going this way?" Coby wondered.

"Gonna look for Zoro."

Coby shook his head. "Zoro's too dangerous to leave out in the open. They'd keep him chained to the wall in their basement, fed by a guard."

"Found him." Luffy said, as he jumped up onto the wall.

Coby climbed up, with effort, and screamed slightly. "Oh my god. That's him!"

Luffy grinned, and wasted no time. He jumped and easily cleared the distance between them and Zoro. "Yo! I heard you were strong, but you look pretty weak to me, tied up like that. I'd break out in seconds."

Zoro blinked, before countering the accusation of him being weak. "I'm not here cause I'm weak. I'm here to win a bet. If I win, the bastard who tied me up won't kill a little girl and her mother, and I'll go free. I lose, we all die"

Luffy nodded. "Why not just kill everyone who would kill them, and be done with it. If you did that, then the girl and her mother would be safe right?"

Zoro opened his mouth to respond, but closed it immediately after. "Shit... why didn't I think of that. It's just that stupid kid in the purple suit and his father. Hell, they're kind of terrorizing the town, including the Marines. I'd probably be hailed as a hero or something, so it's not like I'd get in any trouble. Damn, I don't even need to kill the kid. I kill his corrupt father, and the kid loses all his power, and the Marines can finally do their damned jobs."

Luffy scratched his head. "So, we kill one guy, and fix the town?"

"Yea! Hey, I've been here too long to break free at the moment. Wanna loosen these ropes for me?" Zoro asked, a grin on his face.

Luffy grinned back. "No."

Zoro growled, and scowled. "Why the fuck not?"

Luffy's grin persisted. "I will, on a couple of conditions."

Zoro grunted. "Fine, I'll hunt down any pirate you want and give you the bounty."

"Not that." Luffy grinned. "I want you to join my pirate crew. I'm looking for strong people."

Zoro twitched in anger. "Fuck... and if I don't, you wont' free me. And even if I do break free, I'd still need someone to get my swords from that bastard son for me, or I still couldn't fight very well."

Luffy added another reason to join. "I'll also give you your swords back if you agree to join. Cause I'm gonna go steal them before I free you."

Zoro growled. "That's playing dirty!"

"Pirate." Luffy shrugged.

Left with no other choice, Zoro nodded. "Fine. You have a deal. But, fair warning, my dream is to become the worlds greatest swordsman. Interfere with that dream, and I'll cut you down and take over your crew."

Luffy grinned wide again. "That's great. I'll expect all my core crew members to have huge dreams like that. And if I'm weak enough to be killed by my subordinate, I didn't deserve the position of captain to begin with."

Zoro couldn't help himself. He grinned.

Luffy took off, heading straight for the Marine Base. He ran into the guy Zoro mentioned, the one in the purple suit.

"Hey, your not suppo-" the teens voice cut off as Luffy grabbed him, and broke down the main doors to the Marine Base, followed by his two Marine guards

"Hey, where's Zoro's swords!" Luffy shouted.

The teen screamed, but got an answer out. "In my room, on the top floor."

Luffy dropped him then, and kept going, taking the words literally. It was sheer luck then, that the idiot had actually placed a sign on his door that said 'My Room' or Luffy would have been looking forever.

"Awesome!" Luffy said, before opening the door to see the frilliest pink room he'd ever seen. "Ahg! Not awesome."

He swiftly located the swords, and dove out the window, launching a ki blast behind him. The resulting explosion incinerated everything in the monstrosity Helmeppo called a room.

Now, the one thing a person should know about ki attack is that it has varying states, depending on the level of concentration of the ki. Basic ki attacks, like what Luffy had just used, were yellow. There was always heat in a ki attack, but the heat was more intense the more concentrated it was. This was why injuries inflicted by ki attacks typically didn't bleed. The wounds were usually cauterized by the heat. The more intense the ki blast, the more heat it had. And the colour changed.

Yellow ki attacks that were more then a simple ball of energy could still be powerful, but the power was more wild and uncontrolled. Most commonly seen in wave based attacks, though some beam attacks were also yellow

Blue was the next colour up on the concentration scale. Decently powerful, they they were typically beam based, though some were wave based. However, they usually were fairly large in appearance. Luffy's greatest ki attack at the moment was a blue beam based attack, he called the Gum-Gum Beam. It was easily controlled after being fired, and was very flexible in it's movements. Like rubber. Like himself.

The next colour was purple. This happened when the ki was very concentrated, and was most commonly seen in piercing beam attacks, which were ki beams small enough and powerful enough to punch through someone rather then crash against them, like most blue coloured ki attacks. Few purple coloured ki attacks were larger beams, but if they were, they were exceptionally powerful, and likely cost the user a lot of ki to form.

The final regular colour was red, and was used exclusively in piercing attacks. They were only lethal if they hit vital areas of the body, but they were useful because, even if the user was weaker then their opponent, they could easily overcome otherwise powerful defences because all the power was concentrated at a single point.

Other colours existed, but they only existed due to outside influence. Like combination attacks, or devil fruit abilities affecting them. Except for Green, which existed if someone was concentrating, but not doing so very well. Naturally created green ki blasts were usually a result of an expert ki user fighting and using ki attacks while in a berserker's rage. They were focused enough to be stronger then yellow ki attacks, but too unfocused to turn blue.

It was worthless knowledge to most, but to someone who was looking to create their own ki attacks, rather then using established ones, knowing why the colours were changing could be useful, because it could allow them to know how much further they needed to concentrate for a particular style of attack. Even if they weren't trying to create their own attack, knowing it could help a ki user figure out why an already established attack wasn't working properly.

Luffy wasn't very smart, but he knew a lot about fighting and being a pirate, and ki was an energy used in fighting, and his grandfather said he'd only considered him a master of ki combat if he could create his own move, so, naturally, he knew a lot about it.

Racing over to Zoro, after he hit the ground, Luffy cut the ropes, and handed the older teens swords to him.

Zoro rested his right hand lovingly on the sword with the white sheathe, and white grip. "That was faster then I thought it would be. What was the explosion though?"

Luffy shrugged. "I hate dicking around when I've got something important to do. I think we're going to have company though, so I'll explain the explosion later."

Zoro grinned. "Sounds fun."

"Scram!" Luffy shouted at Coby and a little girl who were watching them.

Coby grabbed the girl and did exactly as ordered.

Just in time as well, as Morgan, the captain of the Marine base in Shell Town just emerged with all the men in the tower.

"Who dares break into _my_ Marine base!?" The man roared.

Luffy raised a hand excitedly. "Ooh! It was me! It was me!"

Morgan growled, and looked to Zoro. "You, Roronoa, are not scheduled to be executed today. Your execution was scheduled for the end of the week. Holding weapons without my permission however... well, that's cause for immediate execution."

Zoro scoffed. "I wanna be the one to take him down."

Luffy shrugged, and jumped in front of Zoro. "You can have him. Just be sure to take the axe on his hand. I want a trophy! _Gum-Gum Gatling_!"

The run of the mill Marines lining up in front of Morgan didn't stand a chance. A flurry of fists rocketed towards them. Some Marines would later swear they'd been hit, simultaneously, by three fists, such was the speed the teen had launched each fist. Combined with the speed, Luffy's great strength was more then enough to break some bones too, leaving many of the Marines not unconscious cradling their arms.

Morgan scowled, but didn't seem too put out. "A devil fruit, huh? Well, then, we'll just have to lock you up with Seastone cuffs. Time to die!"

Morgan charged forward towards Luffy, who had turned his back, and motioned to Zoro.

Before Morgan could hit Luffy, he stopped. Zoro was no longer in front of Luffy, and was now behind Morgan.

" _Tiger Hunt!_ " Zoro gritted out, annoyed at how sore he was.

Nothing happened until Zoro sheathed his swords. That was when Morgan's blood erupted out of two diagonal cuts in an X shape across his chest. His bicep spurted the most, but that was because the axe that had replaced the man's lost hand had been cut off at the bicep.

Luffy pulled the skin, which felt kind of fake, off the axe that used to be Morgan's. Other then the part formerly visible, it was quite complex looking.

The chunk of bone and flesh that stuck the end of the axe was flicked off, and proved the skin that covered the majority of the axe was fake. He probably could have removed the axe manually after Zoro took him down, without taking even more of the man's arm, but that wasn't important. Well, not to Luffy at any rate.

"He dead?" Luffy asked.

"Nah. Not strong enough to kill him in one shot like that. Too weak from lack of food and water." Zoro explained. "I'd guess I'm only about a third as strong as I should be."

The average man would call bullshit at that, as Morgan was about ten times as strong as the average man, and Zoro had still taken him down with one blow. The average man, however, had never seen true monsters, and if they had, they'd claim that, in comparison to some of the true monsters of the world, Zoro was still a pushover.

Luffy nodded. "We'll have to spar when we get a chance. I really want to know how tough you really are."

Zoro grinned. "Looking forward to it, Captain."

"For now, let's go get some food. I'm starving!" Luffy exclaimed.

 **~Two Hours Later~**

"How the hell can you possibly eat more then me!?" Zoro demanded. "I've been without food or water for three weeks!"

Luffy shrugged. "Humans have weak stomachs?"

"What do you mean by that?" Zoro wondered.

"Explain later. Eat now." Luffy stated, grabbing some more food to stuff into his mouth.

Before he could however...

"Excuse me, are you two pirates?" a Marine with dark brown skin, and a goatee asked.

"Yea, why?" Luffy asked.

"I see. While we Marines are grateful for the defeat of Morgan, we cannot abide pirates in this town. I ask that you please leave." the Marine asked.

"Sure." Luffy shrugged. "I'm keeping his axe though. It's my trophy to remind me what happened when I got my first crew member here."

The Marine nodded. "I would ask for it back, but I doubt we could take it from you. We'll report that it was stolen along with everything else that was stolen today."

Luffy shrugged, and nodded to Zoro. "Let's get moving then."

Zoro nodded, following. They stole a fair sized fishing boat, and immediately took off to sea.

"I feel like I forgot something." Luffy pondered.

"Well, too late now." Zoro shrugged.

"What's too late now?" Luffy asked.

"Whatever you forgot."

Luffy looked at him like he was nuts. "Zoro... I didn't forget anything."

Zoro opened his mouth, thought better of it, and shut it immediately, instead closing his eyes and taking a nap.

 **~Coby's POV~**

Coby had managed to join the Marines, saying he was spurred into doing so after seeing the Marines taking the defeated Captain Morgan away. It was touch and go for awhile. No one had seen his face on the island before, but he luckily managed to avoid too much suspicion.

He regretted his choice several days later when Luffy's grandfather appeared and appropriated him. Whatever kind of man could possibly have a grandson as messed up as Luffy, was someone he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

Alas, he'd never had good luck before, and he doubted he ever would.

 _ **~Chapter End~**_

 _Luffy:_ _3,2_ _60_

 _Coby: 59_

 _Zoro: (Dehydrated and hungry) 510_

 _(Healthy) 1,_ _6_ _50_

 _Morgan: 486_

I know Morgan is displayed as only a little weaker then Zoro was when Zoro fought him, but keep in mind that weapons can make someone do more damage then they otherwise could, and Zoro _is_ a master swordsman, while Morgan got by on pure strength, and the false belief of himself and his superiors, that he captured Captain Kuro ' _of a Thousand Plans_ '.

Now, some of you might go back, and see that regular humans on Oceanus have an average power level of 50, and then wonder why Coby is stronger then average. The fact of the matter is, is, whether he felt it or not, getting beaten on for so long did make him a little stronger, and he had to be strong enough to survive Alvida's regular beatings.

For reference:

 _A_ _lvida: 264_

So, Alvida was a little more then 5 times stronger then the average human, mostly because her extreme fatness required her to become stronger to move like regular people did, but also because she needed that strength to lift a mace that weighed just as much as she did. She would actually be stronger if she lost weight, because it slows down all her movements, thus weakening her attacks. So yes, when she reappears in Logue Town, she will be stronger. Not enough to make a difference were she to fight Luffy, but enough to say she's definitely a fighter now.

Next chapter will include Zoro beginning to learn about ki, and all the fun stuff with Buggy and Orange Town.

I hope you've all enjoyed this chapter, and if anyone has any tips for how I can improve my writing, I'm all ears.


	3. Chapter 2

Few days later with this then I originally intended, but here it is. Hope you enjoy.

 _ **~Chapter 2~**_

"So," Zoro began, as Shell town began to shrink behind them, "you said you'd explain some stuff to me?"

Luffy nodded. "Right. Well, I suppose the first thing you should know is that I'm not human."

Zoro raised an eyebrow. "You don't look much like a fishman, merman, mink, or a giant. Or any animal for that matter. I assume this has something to do with the tail?"

Luffy nodded. "Yep. Although, I shouldn't say I'm not human, cause I am part human. I'm also part saiyan. But, from what my grandpa explained, saiyan genes win out over other genes and absorb anything useful from the other race and add them to the saiyan thing. He said if I were tested for it, I would come up as completely saiyan, even though I have a human mother."

Zoro sighed. "That doesn't really make much sense, but I can tell your not lying. At the very least you believe it. But I doubt it's false anyways. It's too insane to just make up."

Luffy laughed. "That's what my big brother said when gramps was explaining it to us. I guess it's weird, but that's just how saiyans are. We take anything useful to make ourselves better. Let's see, so, being a saiyan means if I recover from life threatening injuries, I get a massive power boost. Also gives me access to a form that makes me ten times more powerful then I am right now, but I turn into a giant monkey known as an Oozaru. Can only happen on the night of the Full Moon though, so I'm limited as to when I can actually use it. And it's useless at sea, since I get super huge and heavy, and most ships aren't big enough to handle the size of my form

Zoro nodded. "What about that explosion?"

"That was a Ki blast. Ki is the internal energy all living things have. Nothing to do with being a saiyan. Though, as a saiyan, I do have a more natural instinct for using that energy." Luffy shrugged. "Anyways, I could teach you to use Ki if you want. You can even channel it through weapons to make blades of energy to attack from a distance."

Zoro grinned. "Teach me! I always thought flying blade attacks were a myth. But if they're simply done with this Ki stuff, then I need to learn."

"Sure. You should start by meditating, not sleeping, and trying to bring forth your internal energy outwards. Just focus on making a ball of light between the palms of your hands for now. You generally need to be fairly strong to begin with in order to manage it, but you're plenty strong enough I think." Luffy explained. "Can't help more then that though, cause that's just what gramps told me to do, and I never struggled with it."

Zoro nodded. "So, wanna have that spar when we get to Orange town?"

Luffy smirked. "Damned right I do! I haven't had a good fight since my big brother left three years ago. Only reason I let you at Morgan was cause I needed to know if you were worth bringing with me. Otherwise I'd have just hit him until he turned to paste."

"That something else I've noticed." Zoro commented. "You're a pretty brutal sounding guy, but you don't look or act like you get off on killing people."

"I don't care about killing people." Luffy shrugged. "I just like to fight. It's part of being a saiyan. I should warn you, anyone who introduces themselves with a D initial like mine, is probably a saiyan too, so if you ever have to fight someone like that, be careful. We have a predispo-something or other towards violence and we can get real powerful real fast when we get to fight strong opponents.

"I've only managed to get a little bit stronger in about two and half years though, ever since my brother left to become a pirate. It's hard to get too much stronger when you can't get enough strain on your body to actually train it. Lacking a training partner seriously hurt my growth in power. I expect that, once we start finding other powerful people for me to fight, I'll grow much stronger much faster."

"Sounds like you had a boring two years." Zoro grimaced at the thought of training with no serious result.

"You have no idea." Luffy nodded. "Gramps used to bring me heavier and heavier weights, but he said he wasn't able to bring any of the heavier ones after a certain point though. Sadly, that was before Ace left when he stopped bringing them. I tried to build a ship to pass the time, after my brother left... but, well, turns out you need to actually know what your doing or you just make a mess."

"Yea... I found out just cutting down some trees and tying some rope around them them is a terrible way to build a ship." Zoro nodded sagely.

Luffy nodded enthusiastically. "Right? I mean, a ship is just wood and cloth and ropes right? I knew it wouldn't look good, but who'd have thought it wouldn't work at all?"

"My thoughts exactly." Zoro nodded. "I mean, I don't pretend to be a shipwright, or even a craftsman, but it should have at least stuck together. I still don't know how it managed to get up that waterfall when I tried to sail it out of the river into the ocean. I was sure I built it near the harbour in town."

Luffy frowned. "I think that parts all on you."

Zoro shrugged.

"What about you? What made you want to become the Worlds Greatest Swordsman?" Luffy asked.

Zoro blinked, thinking back. "Well, to be honest, I don't even remember when I decided that. As far back as I can remember, I've been training with swords. Well, sticks shaped like swords first, then kendo sticks, and then real blades. It's all I've ever known."

"No parents or family of any sort?" Luffy asked.

"Closest I can remember was a girl name Kuina and her father, who was my sensei. Kuina... she was something else. Despite the fact that I was the best actual student, she was always leagues ahead of me. She had surpassed her own father before I even arrived in their town. I'll never beat her, and I never have. But I worked hard towards it. I trained everyday, lifting boulders that weighed hundreds of pounds each. I was only seven. I trained with them until I was nine. I did everything I could think of to improve. I worked my body to the bone. But Kuina, without ever training anymore then working on her form, was always stronger then me."

"Sounds like she had a naturally high amount of Ki." Luffy grinned. "What happened to make you leave?"

"She died." Zoro shrugged. "It was two days after I'd surpassed my sensei. And the day after we dueled with real blades. When I surpassed my sensei, I challenged Kuina. We used kendo sticks. She beat me. I insisted we duel with real weapons the following day. She still beat me. Without ever injuring me either. Then, the next day, as she was heading down for breakfast, she fell down the stairs and broke her neck. I suspected foul play, but the coroner insisted there was no signs of a struggle. When I suggested someone pushed her down the stairs, he said I was looking for enemies when there were none. I waited until the funeral was over, then asked her father for her weapon, this blade with the white hilt, the Wado Ichimonji. He gave it to me with his blessing, and I left, and began wandering that day. I took up bounty hunting to make money to survive. It wasn't a profession really, just something to do to perfect my art whilst putting food on the table. A few months ago, some idiot who called himself Mr. 7 tried to get me to join their bounty hunting group, Baroque Works, which worked primarily in the Grand Line, and I told him only if I could be the boss. Idiot tried to kill me for that. I left his corpse in the sea. After that, I somehow found my way to Shell town, and you know the rest."

"Well, that's pretty interesting. I didn't even know regular stuff could kill powerful people. Bullets have never worked against me, even before eating my devil fruit, and most blades barely cut my skin if I'm not paying attention, and rarely manage it when I am." Luffy explained. "I guess that's just my saiyan physica- psychi- psycho-

"Are you trying to say physiology?" Zoro wondered.

"That's the one!" Luffy exclaimed happily. "I guess it's just my saiyan physiology."

Zoro nodded. "Probably. Bullets don't stop working just because we're powerful. A human body is still fragile, no matter how strong it is."

"Still, with the right Ki application, you can toughen your body up to a level where it's hardly any different from mine in terms of defense." Luffy pointed out.

Zoro nodded. "I'll keep that in mind. It'd be good to be able to ignore bullets while fighting."

Their conversation was interrupted by a loud cry above them.

Luffy looked up. "A giant seagull. You hungry?"

"I could eat." Zoro shrugged.

Luffy grinned. "Me too."

A punch thrown later, and a mild ki blast to cook the meat, and the two pirates were gorging themselves on seagull. It was shortly after their impromptu meal when they encountered three men and a capsized boat.

"Help us!" one of them cried.

Another elaborated. "We got tricked by a she-witch!"

Luffy frowned as he pulled one onto their stolen fishing vessel. "I thought all witches were women."

Zoro shrugged, pulling the other two aboard. "Does it matter?"

"No. Now, give us all your valuables or be thrown overboard." one of the men demanded, each of them drawing swords.

In a flash, all three thugs were weaponless and heavily bruised, while rowing the fishing vessel to supplement the speed the wind gave it.

"So, why keep their swords?" Zoro asked. "Planning on learning to use one yourself?

Luffy shrugged. "Maybe as decoration, or just to wave something pointy. I prefer to feel my opponents flesh and bone break under my knuckles. But all pirate captains strap swords to their waists. And flintlock pistols. Even if they don't use them. It's part of the look."

Zoro shrugged. "I dunno about all, but that's certainly the image I imagine when I think of pirate captain. As well as one of those big coats with the shoulder things."

Luffy nodded. "I gotta get me one of those!"

"Hey, there's Orange town!" Zoro pointed.

"So, where should we have our spar?" Luffy wondered.

"I dunno. Seems like this towns already got company in the form of a pirate crew. We should wait until we know why they're here, don't you think?" Zoro asked.

Luffy pouted. "I guess."

Pulling up along a the docks, the three thugs they'd forced to row their ship bolted.

Luffy grinned. "Bet they're part of that crew."

"No bet. It's too obvious." Zoro smirked. "Wanna kick their captain's ass, and then have our spar?"

"Well, no doubt they're going to attack us, so a warm-up sounds good." Luffy agreed.

The two raced after the trio, after tying their boat to the docks easily getting them in their view and following quietly.

"Damn it! Let me go!" a girls voice shouted in around a corner the three men took.

Zoro and Luffy turned the same corner to see six men, three of which were their former prisoners, all dressed like clowns, no doubt a motif of their crew, and one woman, who was being pinned to the ground by two of the men.

"Nami?" Luffy asked. "Were you threatening to throw these men into the sea too?"

"No! They're trying to kill me for stealing a map of theirs!" Nami shouted. "Help me!"

"Guys... careful. They managed to beat us three in less then a second." one of the ones Zoro and Luffy beat up warned. "And stole our weapons, before forcing us to help make their boat move faster."

One of the others shrugged. "So? Tell you what, you two. How's about we let you two have a round of fun with this bitch, and in exchange, you can join the Buggy pirate crew?"

Nami stared at Luffy, begging him to not take up that offer.

Luffy didn't meet her gaze. "How about, instead, you hand her over to me right now, give her back her weapon, and go take a very, very long walk off the pier, and I won't strangle you with your own intestines."

"Try to be a nice guy, and you get a death threat. Fine, let's gut these two boys, and then we can have fun with the girl ourselves!"

Five of the six men rushed them, while the sixth ensured Nami couldn't move. As a result, five of the six found themselves bleeding and unconscious while the sixth took off screaming.

Zoro raised an eyebrow. "Is that guys skull caved in?"

"Probably. I'm not a doctor." Luffy shrugged.

"Impressive." Zoro nodded appreciatively.

Luffy smiled. "You too. It's not ever days someone's kneecap becomes part of their foot.

"Thanks for the help." Nami sighed, picking up her wooden staff, pointedly looking away from the scene that was a result of their violence. "I thought they were gonna, well, you know, for sure."

"Know what?" Luffy frowned.

Zoro snorted lightly. "Have their ' _fun_ ' with her."

"What game were they gonna play? Cause I'm terrible at Go Fish. Great at poker though." Luffy said. "Or was it not a card game?"

Zoro and Nami sighed. "Nevermind."

Luffy shrugged. "Well, whatever."

"So, what are you two doing here? I assume this guy is Zoro?" Nami commented, more friendly then Luffy thought she'd be.

"We came here cause it's on the way to Syrup village in the Gecko Islands. I want to see if I can't recruit someone specific there." Luffy explained. "Why? Wanna join my crew and be my navigator?"

"Not a chance. I told you, I hate pirates. But..." Nami grinned, an idea clearly forming in her mind, "I don't mind helping you out until we get to my home village."

Luffy frowned. "So... you'll be my navigator until we go to your home? Where is it?"

"Cocoyashi village in the Conomi Islands." Nami shrugged, seeing no harm in telling him.

"Excellent. I accept, and I demand we never go there, so now your my navigator forever!" Luffy grinned. "Well, until I rule all the seas. Then you can go back home and rule there, in my name."

Nami rolled her eyes. "Yea... sure... I'll be sure to avoid it until then."

Zoro coughed. "Right, well, how about we figure out what the hell we're doing? I wanna get to our spar."

"Spar?" Nami frowned.

"Me and Zoro. We want to see whose stronger, so we're gonna beat the crap out of each other." Luffy elaborated. "We decided doing so with other pirates around is stupid, cause we might get interruptions."

"Right..." Nami trailed off. "Anyways, I've got a fair enough plan. We're dealing with the crew run by Buggy the Clown, an-"

"Oh! Shanks best friend! I know how we can deal with him." Luffy grinned. "I remember every story of every pirate Shanks told me about, and Buggy ended up eating a devil fruit called the Chop Chop fruit. Basically means swordsmen can't touch him, unless they stop using their swords. He's a Separation Man. Zoro here could turn him into french fries, and he'd come back together. But he's super greedy and he lies a lot, but he takes a lot of pride in the fact that he was once a member of Gol D. Roger's crew. That last bit is something not even the Marines know, which is good for him, since they'd take special care to hunt him down and execute him if they found out."

Nami blinked. "And here I thought you were stupid."

Luffy shrugged. "I'm not too smart, but I take care to remember the things I'm interested in. Pirates and fighting mostly. Also, how to be a King, and how to run a crew. Unfortunately, I'm not too great at navigation. I barely managed to learn enough to get from island to island. And that's only here in the East Blue. The Grand Line is supposed to be impossible by normal means of navigation."

"That's just rumour." Nami waved it off. "Hype about it because of how dangerous it is due to all the pirates roaming it."

Luffy grinned. "Maybe. Anyways, my plan is pretty simple. We tell Buggy where there's a lot of treasure, and how to get it! He'll run after it, leaving town!"

"Too simple. How do we get close to him when that other pirate has probably warned him about us?"

Luffy nodded at Nami's words. "Okay! New plan! We rush them. Zoro can take the weaklings, and I take Buggy. Nami, you steal their treasure, and any treasure maps they've got!"

"Or we can use my pl-"

"I thought this guy was a friend of your friends?" Zoro interrupted.

Nami growled. "Hey. Don't int-"

"Yep. But he's not my friend. And Shanks said Buggy was always a bit of a prick anyways." Luffy nodded, interrupting Nami as well.

"Oh for the love of- Hey! Don't go walking away from me!" Nami screamed. "I told you, I've got a better plan."

 _ **~Nami's POV~**_

"I can't believe they convinced me to do this." Nami whispered to herself quietly as she quietly worked her way towards the treasure room.

She'd already liberated the map room, which was also Buggy's quarters, and found plenty of useful treasure maps she could compare against her own personal map of the East Blue. The only problem was, almost all of them were not found in the East Blue.

Buggy was, surprisingly, very organized for a pirate. He had each map separated by which sea they corresponded to.

Grand Line islands had the most amount of maps, surprisingly. Kuraigana Island, Drum Island, St. Poplar, Skypeia, Sabaody, and dozens more. Each was marked as places to return to, which definitely meant Buggy had been to them before, lending credence towards Luffy's information on Buggy. And they were old maps. More then twenty years old at least, which made Luffy's information even more accurate. Only the ones from the other seas were younger then twenty years old, but, other then the ones from West Blue, Buggy had marked them all as ' _unlikely's_ '. West Blue maps were marked as ' _only if I go home_ '.

There was only one East Blue map, and it was of Treasure Island. It had the sentences ' _Treasure's probably been taken already. Will have to kill the lunatic in a box to be sure_.'

She didn't know what the New World was, but since all of the treasure maps from there were listed as ' _Not unless I become completely immortal._ ' Nami didn't really want to find out where that sea was. If a pirate captain as infamous as Buggy refused to go there, it must be quite terrifying. She'd be sure to ask Arlong about it just before she bought back her town.

Slipping into the treasure room as the sounds of fighting began to die down as Zoro fought his way through the small fry, and killed or knocked them out. She might hate pirates, but even she wasn't stupid enough to think that any battle could be won without casualties. And the people Zoro was fighting against were also pirates, so she really didn't care what happened to them.

She still wasn't sure about Luffy, but Zoro at least seemed dependable enough. Luffy kind of freaked her out. If she didn't know any better, she'd swear he was like a large predator and she was prey. That was the feeling she got from him. Like he would literally eat her if he felt like it.

It made her nervous for no reason. His violent method of talking and eagerness for battle didn't help. Still, she didn't get as far as she had by being afraid of bigger and stronger people.

It was too bad he seemed oblivious to anything of a sexual nature. Seducing men was usually a great way to gain their trust, and she was almost always gone before she had to actually do anything more then just tease them.

But none of that mattered. She'd trick him like she'd tricked the rest. She'd just have to do it the same way she had before she learned to seduce and tease her way into being trusted. Like that time she'd robbed that gay pirate captains crew. That was a tough one.

As she put the last of the gold into her treasure bag, she noticed a house get wrecked, and decided now was a good time to head towards the pier Luffy had mentioned.

 _ **~Luffy's POV~**_

As Zoro plowed through the weaklings as if they were tissue paper, Luffy pondered the meaning of life.

Well, not really, but with the focused and unyielding gaze he held, one wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

In reality, he watched for any sign of foul play. Zoro was a swordsman, but he held honour too highly. Luffy would make sure no one interfered, and to prevent cheaters. Zoro would learn to fight such tactics when they sparred. In a safer environment.

A giant lion, and it's freaky eared rider, and a guy on a unicycle raced towards Zoro, and both were cut down as easy as everything else. Amazingly enough the lion and the unicyclist didn't die, despite their injuries being more severe then most anyone elses. The freaky eared guy on the other hand hadn't actually been cut, but was unconscious nonetheless.

"That was kind of boring, captain." Zoro sighed.

"Sorry. We'll head to the Grand Line soon enough." Luffy apologized. "Should be some stronger opponents there."

"Who the hell are you two, to come in here, and beat all my men?" Buggy the Clown demanded.

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy." Luffy grinned. "And this is my first mate, Zoro."

Buggy froze temporarily as memories of the battles between Garp and Roger rose up. "Monkey D? With a name like that, and that stupid grin, you can't be anyone other then a relative of that bastard Garp. And that Strawhat looks so much like the old captains... which he left to that red-haired bastard..."

"So, you know gramps then, huh? How is Shanks by the way?"

"How should I know? I haven't seen him since the old captains execution." Buggy growled. "What do you and your bounty hunter want?"

"You to leave this town." Luffy shrugged, walking past Zoro. "See, Zoro and I wanna have a spar, but we can't risk any interference. We'd hate to have accidentally beaten the other just because some weakling got in our way."

"Like hell I will! I've got a good operation going here." Buggy stated.

"Had." Zoro pointed out. "All your men are critically injured. Or dead. And you're alone now."

Buggy growled.

Luffy grinned. "Yea! So take your big red nose out of here!"

Buggy snapped. "What'd you say about my nose? Die! Chop Chop Barrage!"

Luffy grimaced as he dodged a barrage of knife stabs from various body portions of Buggy. Buggy was fast with his Devil Fruit. And it allowed him to attack from any angle. On top of that, he had a lot of experience fighting stronger opponents.

Finally, Buggy wasn't a slouch when it came to physical strength either.

Or at least, it had seemed that way, right up until Luffy punched him in the face, breaking his nose.

Buggy came together in an instant, grasping his nose, right in front of Luffy.

"You bastard! That was my nose!" Buggy complained. "Chop Chop Angry Squirrel!"

"What?" Luffy said, confused as Buggy's leg rocketed upwards between Luffy's legs. It struck gold.

"Haha! Victory!" Buggy cried.

Zoro hissed in phantom pain.

Luffy hummed in confusion, before looking down. "Did... did you just kick me in the dick?"

"Balls, technically... wait, why aren't you in pain?" Buggy said, starting calmly, before freaking out

"Well... I'm made of rubber. That includes my dick and my family jewels."

"Rubber?" Buggy asked, now the one confused.

"I ate the Gum Gum fruit. My whole body is made of rubber." Luffy said, pulling his fist back, almost a kilometre. " _Gum Gum Pistol_!"

Before Buggy could react, he'd been hit in the face again, this time crashing into a house, toppling it. Luffy walked forward, stopping short of the rubble, waiting for Buggy to emerge.

"Bastard." Buggy's voice sounded, as some wood shifted, and Buggy climbed out of the wreckage. He had a hint of fear on his face.

Buggy attacked again, his knives flashing dangerously. Luffy dodged each knife stroke, and attacked each limb individually, getting grimaces of pain from Buggy each time.

Buggy's knives landed a dozen times, proving Buggy's status as a Grand Line veteran in how he was able to damage Luffy, despite Luffy's being so much stronger then him.

Still, Luffy was a master of combat. He lived and breathed for it. Buggy did not.

"Enough." Buggy finally cried out, as his head bounced down the street, before pulling his body back together. "I give up. I'll leave. I'll have my revenge one day though, you straw hat bastard."

"Sure thing." Luffy smirked, cracking his knuckles. "I love a good fight, so make sure you get stronger first."

Buggy woke up as many of his men as he could, and they took everyone else towards the ship before sailing off.

Luffy was breathing a little heavier then normal "He was a lot stronger then he looked."

"Oh?" Zoro asked. "Well, you did say he was once a Grand Line pirate. I've heard they're all pretty powerful."

Luffy grinned. "Yea, but Shanks also always said Buggy was a weakling compared to most."

Zoro smirked. "That must mean the rest are even stronger. I guess your too tired for us to have a good spar?"

Luffy's fist flying at him, despite the ten metre distance, drove him to dodge. "When did I say that?"

 _ **~Nami's POV~**_

"It's about time you two showed up." she shouted as she saw Luffy walking towards her, with Zoro over his shoulder, and a bag in the other hand. "I was about to leave without you."

That was a lie. She needed some powerful protection. The last thing she wanted was to end up in a scenario like they'd found her in without anyone to rescue her.

Sure she'd done some things she'd wished she didn't have to in order to make enough money to buy back her home, but so far she'd always managed to avoid the kinds of pirates who raped. Or at least avoided being the victim of said pirates until today. And she'd rather never experience such a close call again, especially not without someone who could save her nearby.

"Buggy left, like, half an hour ago. What took you two so long?" she asked.

"Zoro was a little tougher then I thought. And Buggy was tougher then I thought he'd be too, so I was a little tired when Zoro and I started sparring." Luffy answered, jumping onto his stolen fishing vessel, and leaning Zoro's unconscious body against the wall of the cabin. "Let's get going!"

Nami sighed, and carried her bag maps and treasure onto the boat. "Alright then. Syrup Village you said? I'll get us there in no time at all!"

"You can teleport!?" Luffy shouted in awe.

Nami opened her mouth and then closed it. She closed her eyes too, and counted to ten. "No. It's a figure of speech. I meant I'll get us there faster then anyone else could get us there."

"Oh. That's good too though!" Luffy grinned, and Nami was forced to wonder whether he was actually stupid, or if he was just that simple minded.

Considering he clearly knew a lot about his chosen profession, and combat in general, she was leaning towards the latter.

"Well, the winds are good, and the sky is clear. If it keeps up like this, we should reach Syrup Village by tomorrow afternoon." Nami said. "What's in the bag? The villagers valuables?"

"Nope. Their food." Luffy said. "We need some. I also got some booze. Pirates love booze. Especially rum!"

"Did someone say booze?" Zoro groaned.

Luffy grinned. "Alright! We're off, and we're gonna kick this off with a round of drinks!"

Despite herself, Nami chuckled and joined in on the drinking. Somehow, that straw hat wearing bastard had a contagious happy personality. She just had to be sure not to get too attached to them.

 _ **~Chapter End~**_

Well, there's that chapter done. Hope you all enjoyed. Please let me know if there's anything I can do improve my writing.

Power Levels:

 _Luffy:_ _3,2_ _60_

 _Zoro: 1,650_

 _Buggy: 1,575_

 _Nami: 142_


	4. Chapter 3

Fair warning, I'm making Usopp better at everything he's good at, and he knows it. The reason for this? He's God Usopp. Seriously though, he's just better at what he's good at, and is aware that he's good at these things. As a result, he's a little more mature and confident then canon. This will be even more evident because Luffy is more battle-hungry, and has a fun day training rather then playing.

Here's chapter 3. Hope you enjoy.

 _ **~Chapter 3~**_

 _ **~Syrup Island North Beach, Gecko Islands archipelago, East Blue~**_

Usopp swallowed nervously a ship sailed onto the beach. There was no jolly roger, but one of them was armed, and both the men looked to have pounded a serious amount of iron.

The one in the red vest and straw hat had a freaking twelve pack! Usopp wasn't even aware that that was even possible until now. He was also standing in a way that told Usopp he'd been in more then a few fights. With no visible weapon, it was quite clear he knew how to use his fists, and use them well. The scar under his eye also showed he wasn't afraid to get up close and personal with armed enemies. Unless it was an accident when he was younger or something.

The one with the three swords looked an awful lot like Roronoa Zoro, and Usopp didn't like the rumours about him at all. He was tall, intimidating, and most of all, clearly skilled. His arm rested on his three swords, giving the illusion he was relaxed, and not about to draw them out, but this was a deception for the untrained and those unfamiliar with battle. With his eyesight, Usopp could see that Zoro's arm was poised to grasp any of them at a moments notice. Clearly a sign of a man trained for combat, with most of his experience gained in battle.

The girl was pretty enough. She was no Kaya, but that was mostly to do with how she wore her hair, rather then for any lack of features. She was certainly bigger in the chest then Kaya. And she seemed to have a collapsable three piece staff. She was clearly used to using it, but she didn't seem to like to. She, like Usopp himself, preferred to not be in the thick of things. Understandable considering her slender build.

If he'd brought his fathers old pistol with him, he could probably take all three of them no problem. With just his slingshot... well, he'd have one shot to take out all three of them, and even he wasn't that good. He'd need to rely on tactics, words, and environment. Alternatively, it would be best if they weren't here to start something.

His 'crew', which was really just a bunch of little kids he played with, were clearly nervous.

He shushed them when he noticed the trio starting to talk. It wasn't just his eyesight that was better then the average persons. His sense of smell and hearing were better then normal people too. So was his dexterity, aim, and reflexes. As was his mind. He was weaker then the average person though, cause he never trained. He was fast at least, and had some great stamina. But it was all inherited from his father. He had the means to get stronger quickly, as natural growth like his fathers seemed to be a thing passed down through lineage, he just didn't like physical activity for the sake of physical activity.

Listening in on the trio he heard the woman speak.

"...you want to come here anyways? Something about recruiting?"

"Yea. A crewmate of Shanks told me his son lived on this island. Repeatedly. I figured, since now that I'm gonna be a pirate, I should recruit him." the straw hat wearing man stated.

Zoro spoke up. "Alright, what's his name, what's he look like, and where's he live?"

Straw Hat shrugged."Only got his name, and that he's in Syrup village. Apparently his name is Usopp. Yasopp told me so much about him, I kind of feel I know him already, but it has been about ten years, so, he might not even be here. We can ask around about someone named Usopp. And if we can't find him, then we'll get onto our second goal."

"Second goal?" the woman asked.

"Well, I heard there's some rich family here. I figure, if they're bad rich people, we can rob them of a ship and anything else they've got. If they're good, then we can ask for one. Or pay for it if they refuse to just give it away." Straw Hat answered

"And if they don't have one at all?" the woman pressed.

"Then we leave and look for one elsewhere." Zoro pointed out. "Seriously, keep up. It's not brain surgery."

The woman rolled her eyes at that.

Straw Hat grinned. "Well, we can start asking people right now."

"How?" the woman asked.

Zoro and Straw Hat pointed at Usopp and the three kids. "There's four people hiding behind that bush. They're making quite a bit of noise, shuffling around so much."

Three screams and Usopp found himself alone.

"Now just the one." Straw Hat pointed out.

Usopp stood up. "You're not here to hurt anyone?"

"Naw. Not unless they attack us." Straw Hat stated.

"You're looking for Usopp you said?" he asked.

Straw Hat nodded. "That's right. Surprised that you heard me."

"I'm all kinds of impressive." Usopp smirked, as he made his way down to them, with them meeting him halfway down the slope. "Name's Usopp. You said you know my father, Yasopp?"

"I do. It's good to finally meet you." Straw Hat grinned. "I'm Luffy, and these are Zoro and Nami. Yasopp stopped in my village with Red Hair Shanks, about ten years ago. I bet he's still with them."

Usopp's jaw dropped momentarily. He'd heard Shanks when this man was talking earlier, but he hadn't even dared to believe it was _that_ Shanks.

Red Hair Shanks was one of the Four Emperor's of the New World, the second half of the Grand Line, rumoured to be ten times more dangerous then the first half, which was known as the Pirate Graveyard. It was a debate between whether it was Red Hair or Whitebeard who was stronger. Most said Whitebeard, but Red Hair had his supporters.

Not that the other two, Kaido the Beast and Big Mom were weak. Any of the Four could cause serious problems for the World Government, and any two working together could likely destroy the World Government. It was why the Seven Warlords of the Sea system was set up.

Well, ideally, that was why. Usopp didn't know just how strong the Warlords were, but he guessed they must, at least collectively, be enough to even the odds against the Four Emperor's.

But his father being on Red Hair's crew? That was amazing. From what little he knew, Red Hair didn't have a fleet of ships, unlike the other Emperors. His entire crew fit onto a single ship, and he, with a recent talent, made people pass out with his very presence, unless they were strong, so he avoided towns. That meant people in his crew had to be strong. If his father was in that crew and had been for such a long time...

"Really? Red Hair Shanks? That's amazing!" Usopp said happily.

Luffy grinned. "After Shanks himself, Yasopp was my favourite on his crew. Beckman was always too stuffy, and Lucky Roo never shared his meat. Still, your old man would talk about you and your mom whenever he got drunk. About how he wanted, desperately, to stay with you, but that he couldn't ignore the call of the sea any longer. He'd go on about how much he loved you both, but how his heart yearned for the sea. He even wrote a song about it, but I was so young I could never remember it. It was too mushy for me."

Usopp grinned anyways. "That's fine! I'll ask him if I ever see him again."

"Well, if you join my crew you will." Luffy slipped in. "I'm going to the Grand Line to become the Pirate King. Join me, become my sniper, and you'll no doubt get to see your dad again one day."

Usopp froze. Something he desperately wanted. To finally go out to sea and be a pirate. But he couldn't.

"I can't. I want to, but I can't. I'm not like my dad. I can't leave everything for something I love. Especially when it's to leave... well, I'm sorry." Usopp told him.

"If it's about a girl, bring her with you. We can protect her, and I'm sure she can learn something to help out on the ship." Luffy suggested.

"She's too ill." Usopp shook his head. "I've thought about that myself, but she couldn't handle it."

Luffy frowned. "I see. Then-"

"I can ask someone about a ship for you though." Usopp interjected. "Let me take you guys to a nice restaurant, and I'll go and ask about it for you while you eat."

At that, all thoughts of recruiting Usopp fled his mind, as food took over instead. This much, even Usopp could tell.

The straw hat wearing, teenaged pirate captain, began singing. "I'll have food~ Lot's of food~ I repeat~ Endless meat~"

Nami sighed. "Get his mind on food and he turns into a lunatic."

"Sounds like you with gold, witch." Zoro shrugged.

Nami shrugged. "A girl has to have her priorities."

Usopp was not pleased. His encounter with Klahadore at Kaya's went south quickly, and he'd let Kaya see the worst of him when he slugged Klahadore.

But that wasn't what was pissing him off right now. Nor was it why he came to the South shore to relax and blow off some steam.

What was pissing him was that Klahadore had flinched towards dodging, before stopping himself, and keeping his head still. That fucker knew full well how to fight! His hand had also twitched as if he was getting ready to carve someone up with his fingers. Perhaps he was used to using a clawed weapon?

There was a remarkable resemblance between Klahadore and Captain Kuro of a Thousand Plans. But Morgan, the Marine in charge of the nearby Shell Town Marine base, had captured him, and gotten promoted for it. Still, it wouldn't be the first time the Marines had made a mistake.

"Sorry." the voice of Luffy spoke up, scaring the hell out of Usopp. "I kind of decided to go find you, and saw and heard your argument with that butler dude. Sorry about your girlfriends reaction too."

"Don't worry about it. It's not your fault." Usopp told him.

Luffy hummed. "Maybe. But, all of this happens on the day I arrive? Some associate my families initial with representing Destiny. Most think it refers to Devil. All consider us God's Natural Enemies. I won't say what's true or not, but there is a reason for all of those assumptions. My family line is always in the thick of things. We're used to being blamed for the events, but we're usually just drawn into to the big events."

Usopp frowned. "You seem a lot smarter now then you let on earlier."

Luffy grinned. "I ain't stupid. It's just annoying to think a lot. Still, it's useful occasionally. Especially when it comes to knowing who my enemies are. And my family line has a lot of enemies based just on our initial. The Monkey branch of the Clan of D. has the most enemies just because our family line pissed people off the most. Although I guess the Gol branch took that achievement from us when Roger became the Pirate King."

Usopp blinked. "You're related to the Pirate King?"

"Yea... like, a hundred grandfathers back or more." Luffy shrugged.

"Oh... well, I guess that far back, and most people are related to each other." Usopp nodded.

"So," Luffy started, "what'cha thinking about?"

Usopp frowned for a second, before deciding it couldn't hurt to share it with Luffy. "I hope you don't think I'm crazy, but I think Kuro of the Thousand Plans might be alive and working as Kaya's butler."

Luffy nodded. "Okay. Well, he's right down there, talking to some disco-guy. Listen in, and find out."

Usopp turned in surprise and immediately ducked down to crawl closer and listen in.

He looked back to see Luffy casually leaning against a tree, out of view, and seemingly uninterested in what might be discussed. Then again, he probably couldn't hear as well as him, so, maybe he wanted him to relay it to him?

"Want me to tell you what they say?" Usopp asked.

"No... I can hear them as if I was standing right next to them from this distance." Luffy shrugged.

Usopp was a tad impressed. Even he couldn't hear that well.

Together the two listened to the plot Klahadore had cooked up and was getting Jango to pull off, they waited until the two had parted to discuss it.

"So, what do you think?" Luffy asked.

Usopp bit his lip in anger, though he as sure it didn't show. "I have to warn the village and Kaya."

"I heard from those kids you lie a lot. Will they listen?"

"The villagers won't, but Kaya might!" Usopp countered, a tad heatedly.

"After that blow-up? She seemed real pissed at you for hurting her butler." Luffy pointed out.

Usopp noted that he wasn't trying to make a point, but was genuinely curious about the answer. Which was sad, because Usopp doubted he'd have realized the point that was so obvious with those words without that question being asked.

"No... she'd probably think I'm just trying to get back at him." Usopp sighed dejectedly.

"Well, then the answer about what to do is obvious, right? Kill the enemy pirate crew for hurting my sniper's hometown!" Luffy smiled.

"I... wait, what?" Usopp blinked.

"It's my price. My price for saving the life of your girlfriend, is you joining my crew." Luffy told him, with a grin. "I mean, I'd probably be happy beating them all to a bloody mess anyways, but I have to get something out of it or I end up being considered a hero. 'Course, my price for saving the town is that girl giving me a ship, otherwise I protect just her, and kill the enemy pirates on her front lawn."

Usopp was taken aback by this. Luffy had seemed like quite the decent guy. The kind of pirate out for adventure, not plunder. But here he was happily talking about killing people, whilst extorting things out of him, and talking about extorting a sick girl.

And yet... he had no choice. He couldn't fight an entire pirate crew alone. One guy? No problem. Maybe even several guys with his fathers old gun. But a whole crew? Not a chance. Even if they were focused on attacking people, he'd only increase his chances by a slight margin. And if he focused on saving the villagers, his chances of losing Kaya skyrocketed.

He may have the illusion of choice, but if he wanted to save everything, this was his only option. There was still just one problem.

"How can three more people helping me, possibly be enough for us to defeat a whole pirate crew?" Usopp asked. It was a ridiculous notion. More importantly, "Why would you even risk your life just to get me on your crew anyways?"

Luffy frowned. "I won't die. Neither will Zoro. If Nami's careful, she won't either. And you're a sniper, so you're not meant to be in the thick of things. And, as long as you don't do anything stupid, you'll be fine. Besides, Zoro and I took down Buggy and his crew just the other day. Me and Zoro wanted to spar, but Buggy was being a jerk, and he was chasing my navigator. So we kicked his and his crew's asses, and then we sparred."

Usopp wasn't sure whether to face-palm at this, or let his jaw drop at the sheer amount of skill and strength Luffy and Zoro had to have in order to take on an entire pirate crew on a whim.

Instead, he chose to continue questioning things. "Why then? Why are you out at sea? What's your ultimate goal as a pirate? What kind of pirate activities will you do?"

Luffy grinned. "To become the Pirate King, and build an Empire. Mostly, I'm just going to have fun as a pirate. Adventures. Maybe a little plundering if the target deserves it. Oh, and the fights. Gotta find the strongest fighters and prove to them that I'm the strongest."

Usopp swallowed. At least it seemed Luffy was the better kind of pirate, he just didn't have a problem with killing people, or committing crimes in general. Like a sociopath. He wasn't evil because he wanted to be, he just didn't understand that he was evil. He was an evil at war with evil. Depending on his attitude towards the Marines, and civilians, he might just be chaos at war with anything he didn't like, whatever that might be on a particular day.

Of course, this wasn't exactly something that scared Usopp. His dream was to become a well renowned pirate himself. In order to do that, other pirates and the Marines would be his enemies too. What did scare Usopp was that this was the first time he'd ever encountered someone else like him.

"Okay, we need to come up with a plan." Usopp began, shaking his thoughts. "But before, that, my price for joining your crew is that you help defend everyone on my island, including Kaya. My island, and all it's inhabitants, aside from Kuro, must live through this, preferably without ever realizing the island is under attack. In addition to joining your crew, I'll convince Kaya to give us a ship, and if I can't, I'll at least figure out where it's located, and how we can steal it."

Luffy frowned. "Hm... well, as long as I get everything I came here for, it's all good."

Usopp smirked to himself. Powerful or not, Luffy wasn't too bright. Admittedly, Usopp hadn't changed too much of the original deal, but he had prevented Kaya from being extorted out of her ship, which was his goal.

Instead she'd be asked for it, or have it stolen from her. Either way, at least she didn't have to deal with any threats from Luffy. Which would have probably involved threatening to kill a few civilians.

"Good. All that's left is planning." Usopp nodded. "Now, there are two ways up onto the island from the beach, but considering they used this spot-"

"We need Zoro and Nami. Nami is great at planning, and Zoro and I fight a lot so we'd know what might work." Luffy pointed out.

Usopp nodded, and the two set off to find Nami and Zoro. It didn't take long, as they were wandering around looking for them.

"As I was telling Luffy, since they were planning on the South shore, I assume it means that the attack will take place here." Usopp told them.

"Not necessarily. If this guy's such a good strategist, he might have anticipated someone overhearing him, and decided to meet there to throw us off. We should set some traps there, but, for the most part, I think the North shore is a better bet." Nami answered, before muttering under her breath. "That and I don't want to risk my money being stolen."

Usopp chose to ignore that last bit. "Well, that does make sense. I'll make the traps on this side then, and sleep here tonight. I'll wake up before Dawn, and if I don't see a ship coming by Dawn, I'll race to the other side to meet up with you guys, okay?"

"Sounds good." Luffy nodded.

"Wait, what about trapping the North shore?" Nami asked.

"No need." Zoro shrugged. "Traps work both ways. Luffy and I can't fight until the traps are sprung, and it's easier if we just get down to business."

Nami sighed. "Fine. Then, likewise, if we don't see them by Dawn, we'll head for your side of the island."

"Oooh! I can hardly wait for tomorrow morning!" Luffy half-shouted.

Usopp blinked and rubbed his eyes. For a second, he'd thought for sure that he'd seen Luffy's fur belt twitch and move excitedly.

"Right." Usopp deadpanned, not agreeing with the sentiment, and pretty sure he was going a touch crazy. "Well, see you guys tomorrow morning I guess. I've just got to go to my house, and pick up something.

 _ **~Syrup Village, South Shore, Gecko Islands Archipelago~**_

Usopp stood up, a bit annoyed his traps would be wasted, as the sun rose. They would be attacking the North shore.

Slipping his father's old pistol into it's holster, he turned and ran for where Luffy, Zoro, and Nami were.

After ten minutes of running, he found himself emerging, and saw the pirates charging up the hill. Zoro and Luffy rushing to meet them eagerly.

He'd show his worth here, and protect his home. He was terrified to be sure, and if it wasn't for the lethal weapon he had on him, he'd probably be shaking.

He pulled out his father's pistol, stopped running, took careful aim at the man named Jango, the one Kuro had been planning with the day before, making sure the bullet would hit him right between the eyes, and pulled the trigger.

 _ **~Chapter End~**_

Well, there's the third chapter. Hope you enjoyed it, and tell me what you thought of the chapter.

Sorry for the long wait, by the way. I'll probably try to ambush you with an update only once a month from now on, rather then my original goal of an update every two weeks. This is because I'm working more frequently, and thus need more time to write.

Also, I'm lazy.

Also, also, I'm aware this chapter is shorter then the others, but it felt like this chapter was getting too long, despite being shorter. Strange how that works.

Power Levels:

 _Luffy:_ _3,_ _30_ _0_

 _Zoro: 1,700_

 _Nami: 142_

 _Usopp: 49_

 _Kaya: 38_

If anyone has any questions, or you just want to help me improve my writing, feel free to ask in a review, or drop me a PM.


	5. Chapter 4

Sorry it's a few days late folks, but here it is. The fourth chapter.

 _WARNING: This chapter has not been proofread, so if you're seeing a bunch of mistakes here and there try to ignore them. I'll see if I can't spare some time to go over the chapter and repost it in a few days._

 _ **~Chapter 4~**_

 _ **~North Shore, Syrup Island~**_

Jango wasn't one for needless violence or killing. Some of his crew were, but he wasn't that kind of person. He was an educated man, who'd had some bad luck, and had been forced to piracy. He just happened to be pretty damned good at his forced profession.

Sure, he wasn't a complete genius like Kuro, but he also wasn't a complete lunatic like Kuro either. In fact, something Kuro forgot, likely intentionally, was how instrumental he had been to most of the plans the ex-pirate captain had made.

Even Kuro's current plan relied on Jango.

Jango had studied human psychology for a very long time when he was a kid. Naturally, he'd delved into Hypnotism as a hobby. Somehow, he'd found a way to put some sort... energy... into his pendulum, and force people to be hypnotized. It didn't always work, especially if they had a strong mind, or were far more powerful then him. Never if they happened to have both. But, regardless, it was something unique he'd developed before he became a pirate.

In truth, he used to work for the Marines. Not as a Marine, but as a specialist they hired so often, that they'd given him a permanent ID badge to get into his loca Marine Base.

You see, psychiatrists were often called in to help Marines who were struggling with the idea of killing.

Many times, he'd had them quit, or switch to a different job in the Marines, because they clearly weren't cut out for taking lives. Then, when he was 23, about 10 years ago, Admiral Akainu had begun killing psychiatrists who'd told Marines to quit, claiming they were pirates in disguise, trying to diminish the fighting force of the Marines.

Fearful, he'd managed to hypnotize everyone into thinking some random schmuck was him when Akainu came to his home island. As he'd thought, the guy had been killed, and he'd been forced to leave.

Left with nothing else that he could possibly do, as he was supposed to be dead, he'd resorted to piracy, after stowing away on a Marine ship heading for the East Blue from Grand Line, where he was born, and escaping in an attack on a pirate ship, which the pirates won. He'd taken control of the ship shortly after, and earned their loyalty swiftly.

Kuro had taken an interest in his skills when their ships ended up fighting over some loot, and he was spared, so long as he became subserviant to Kuro. That was a year into his pirate career.

6 years after that, Kuro had found a way out of the pirate life, and Jango was, as he was so many times since he'd been spared, instrumental to Kuro's success.

And now, once more, he was instrumental to Kuro's success. This time, to living the high life.

This was, no doubt, to be their final mission. Kuro would probably kill them all when the deed was done.

But Jango wasn't a stupid man. He had a plan of his own. He'd hypnotize the girl, and then he'd miss slitting her neck, and catch Kuro offguard, instead slitting his neck.

Even if he missed, he was fast enough to dodge any retaliation, and hypnotize the others into attacking Kuro. No doubt he'd lose a vast amount of his men, but Kuro would fall. After all, the battlefield where Kuro likely planned on killing them would be different. And Kuro couldn't swing those huge claws of his in such close quarters.

Once Kuro was dead, he'd have the hypnotized girl give them everything not nailed down, and then let the poor girl go.

He didn't believe in letting his men simply have their way with whatever woman they wanted, so he'd never allow the girl to come to any serious harm. It was the one thing he and Kuro had in common. For different reasons, naturally.

Kuro believed the act itself to be revolting, no matter the gender of the people involved. Of course, Jango believed the real reason Kuro detested the act was because he was a eunich. He had no proof of that though.

So, when they landed at the North Shore of Syrup Island, he'd frowned at meeting unexpected resistance. Any resistance meant energy spent that couldn't be used to kill Kuro. It wasn't their fault. They didn't know his plan, but it would make things more risky.

Reacting instinctively, he swung his pendulum, and knocked a bullet out of the air, and caught the eye of the sniper. That lead bullet would have gone straight between his eyes. It was a hell of a shot to pull off with a flintlock pistol from that range. Impossible some would say. They weren't terribly accurate weapons even from close range.

It didn't take much to realize which way the battle would go. Roronoa Zoro, an extremely skilled sniper, some cute red haird girl, and a teenage boy in a straw hat, against almost 50 skilled, but average, pirates, and himself, plus two quite skilled thieves.

If he didn't do anything, they'd be slaughtered. Him and his men, that is. The girl probably couldn't do too much. But with that sniper, and Roronoa Zoro? They'd wreck everyone. With that teenage boy in the straw hat who seemed to be doing next to nothing, but still taking someone down in less then a few seconds, Jango realized they weren't dealing with the average fighters here. They were dealing with people like himself and Kuro. And stronger versions of them to boot.

And there was nothing he could do about it. If he tried to tell them his plan, his men, not understanding he was trying to save their lives, would turn on him, as many were still loyal to Kuro. And if these stronger people were weakened while killing his own men, Kuro would kill them anyways, and he, Jango, would lose his crew. It was a lose-lose situation. The best he could do was hope he'd read into Kuro's plan wrong and that he would let them live after the deed was done.

Unless of course he made his own men into super fighters too. Sort of.

"Men! When I say one, two, Jango! You will all be super human warriors with power and skill unmatched!" Jango shouted, forcing power into his pendulum. "One, two, Jango!"

The defeated pirates rose, roaring like animals, and the still conscious roared even louder. He estimated that he'd probably doubled or even tripled their abilities. He could only make them about five times stronger then they would normally be, but at that point, their muscles would begin to crush their bones and he'd be left with a useless bunch of sacks of meat and bone, so two to three times stronger then normal was the limit he could go without killing his own men himself.

The result was evident. More bullets were redirected from the sniper, though it was still rare it was now not always by accident, and the girl was forced to retreat. Though her skill was still pretty good, she no longer had enough strength to make her much superior skill with that bo staff a deciding factor.

Roronoa seemed to notice the difference, and struggled to cut down one or two of his men every so often, and a few lucky hits would probably change the pace for him as well.

Under normal situations, this would please Jango greatly, as it would mean his plan still had a chance of working. There was, however, still a problem.

The problem stemmed from the straw hat boy. For only a single second had it seemed he'd noticed a difference. And that second had passed. And when it did, the boy didn't look like anything had changed. He still crushed people with only a single blow. The only reason the battle wasn't ending quicker was because more and more of his men were dodging when they could.

He growled to himself. That Straw Hat wearing boy was going to ruin his plan. At this rate, he might as well say fuck the whole plan and escape. Buchi and Sham were his last hope.

"Buchi! Sham! Get down here. You're needed!" Jango shouted.

He'd wanted to not rely on these two at all. They were his most loyal fighters, and his best hope against Kuro.

Until Kuro's betrayal was revealed, he could only count on these two to support him.

The two landed, and looked fearful. Their act was normally useful at making people underestimate them, but neither Roronoa, nor the Straw Hat wearing teen looked like they cared. And considering their power, he didn't want to risk it.

"No acting. The boy with the Straw Hat and Roronoa Zoro. If the plan is to work, those two have to be out of the way. You'll need all the advantages you can get. When I say One, Two, Jango, you two, and myself, will be three times stronger then normal!" Jango told them. "One, Two, Jango!"

He felt the effects of his hypnosis take over his own body, and he followed them into combat. "Buchi, Sham! You two take Roronoa! I've got the stronger one! Men, get out of the way!"

Jango raced forwards, razor sharp pendulum swinging. He swung it, intending for a beheading, only to meet the fist of the Straw Hat boy, whose face had turned from bored to grinning. Hitting the ground, and pushing himself to his feet immediately, he swung his pendulum again, cursing as it was dodged.

"Not bad!" Straw Hat stated in joy. "How'd you do it? Get stronger all of a sudden I mean? Can you do it some more? Make yourself even stronger? You're still not strong enough to give me a good fight yet!"

Jango cursed. He was facing a natural battle junkie. And one who was clearly beyond powerful. Even weak ones were pains to deal with.

How could this boy possibly be so strong as to handle him at three times his normal power? Even his normal self was more then enough for most people. At three times his normal power, he outmatched even Kuro's base power, and only the man's speed had kept him from trying to prove his greater strength! So how?

But he didn't have time to contemplate this. Dodging a fist that probably would have ended the battle, he coughed as the second, which he didn't see, knocked the wind out of him, catching him in the solar plexus. His self-hypnosis may have increased his strength and speed, but his ability to take a hit wasn't affected. It just made him less likely to acknowledge damage to his body. But there was no getting around having your lungs expel all their oxygen. It was too much of a shock to the system.

Hitting the ground hard, he noticed Buchi and Sham were only barely a match, together, for Zoro. And his skill far outstripped theirs. It was only a matter of time.

"C'mon! Make yourself stronger! I'm still bored!" The Straw Hat boy complained. "Ah, right. I'm Monkey D. Luffy by the way. Nice to meet'cha! You?"

"Jango." Jango stated, using the oppurtunity to catch his breath.

The Hypnosis was wearing off. A glance to Buchi and Sham told him it was wearing off for them too. It wasn't meant to be used in prolonged battles, but as a means to end a battle swiftly. The worst part though, wasn't that it was short lasting. It was that it completely exhausted those it was used on, since they ended up fighting at levels their bodies couldn't completely handle.

He made one more last ditch effort to take the boy down, and found himself eating sand.

"D-Damn it." Jango complained.

"Aw, c'mon! Just make yourself super strong again, and this time, do it better!" Luffy complained, sitting down on his back.

"I can't, you moron! If I made myself any stronger, I'd tear my body apart." Jango explained. "And it doesn't last long, as you can see."

Luffy frowned. "You should train yourself to be stronger then. And train in how to make that extra strength thing last longer."

He noticed Buchi and Sham were done, heaving and barely kneeling in front of Zoro.

And then, he heard a voice he didn't want to hear until he was ready to kill it's owner.

"I make plans for the girl to have been killed in a pirate attack at dawn. It is now mid-morning." Kuro's voice sounded out. "So I come to find what's taking so long, and what do I find? An entire pirate crew held up by a bunch of children."

One of his men still conscious complained. "Hey, they're really strong!"

Idiot.

Kuro looked at the man, and vanished. The man was dead now, Kuro's foot on his back, while the man's head was removed from his neck.

"It's not a matter of whether they're strong. It's a matter of your being weak." Explained condescendingly. "I'll tell you what. I'll let it slide, if you kill them within the next five minutes. If you don't, I will. And you won't like who else I include in that list of victims."

Jango did have to hand it to the bastard. He knew how to use fear as a motivator. Jango watched sadly as his men renewed their attacks, pathetically. Roronoa cut them all down, and the sniper shot whoever made it past the swordsman. Anyone who managed to not get shot was rendered unconscious by the girl.

There was no more hypnotism. He could try it again, but they'd only be a tiny bit stronger then their full natural strength, and seeing as he'd needed to make them three times stronger then that just to make two of them pay any real attention to the battle, it wouldn't do any good.

Five minutes passed, with Luffy not moving from his spat on Jango's back, instead looking on in boredom.

Kuro's patience was at an end. His first targets? The Sniper and the girl. He didn't reach them, instead being knocked down.

Jango frowned, but when he noticed that Luffy was in front of the sniper, and no longer on his back, he realized what had happened. Speed was Kuro's domain. He was easily three times faster then he was strong. For this kid to be faster then Kuro and yet stronger then Jango under a three times power increasing form of hypnosis...

It was unreal.

Kuro wasn't pleased.

But Kuro had a speed increasing technique. It increased his strength, slightly, but his speed easily reaching superhuman levels was the key point of the move. Kuro, however, could not control himself when he was using it. To keep the speed, he couldn't stop moving. But he moved too fast for his eyes to keep up, and he got a form of tunnel vision.

In Kuro's case it wasn't important, as his blind attacks might hit even his allies, but, to him his allies weren't important.

"You've pissed me off, boy." Kuro stated, getting to his feet.

"Yea?" Luffy asked. "You tried to kill someone I'm taking for my crew. You've pissed me off, human."

An interesting word choice. Was the boy not human? It would explain his superior abilities. Perhaps he was part fishman or part merman? Maybe he was part, or full, giant, but happened to be a runt? It happened, where some giants were human sized, but still had that same unnatural strength they were known for. And at a human size, that strength would also translate into speed.

Kuro scowled, and began swaying. Then he vanished.

Luffy seemed shocked. When several of Jango's men suddenly had the backs torn wide open, Luffy scowled, and began focusing. Jango doubted the boy would win now. Strong or not, there was no keeping up with Kuro when he was like this. He'd kill them all.

Still, he watched the boy. If any one of them here could defeat Kuro like this, it was that boy.

Luffy frowned, and followed the sounds of people getting killed by Kuro. Buchi and Sham were among them, and Jango closed his eyes for them for a few seconds each, before continuing to watch the boy.

Roronoa acted on instinct, and managed to block an attack, though the speed and power of it, sent him skidding backwards. The clash had made Kuro visible for half a second.

The next time, however, Luffy's head moved, facing someone _before_ Kuro killed them. And then the teen grinned. A few more deaths, and Luffy keeping ahead of knowing where Kuro would be. And then, suddenly, he ran forwards and lashed out with a solid left handed punch.

Kuro was strong, and fast. But durable he was not. A caved in skull was his death.

Unnoticed by all of them before this, a young blond girl fell to her knees in shock, and half shouted in despair. "It was true."

He words turned everone's gaze towards her, all of them surprised she was there.

The sniper shouted. "Kaya! What are you doing here?"

Jango watched as the sniper ran to her, and held her. He couldn't hear them, but he assumed the sniper was trying to console her.

Her words made him think. Kuro must have tried to kill someone else up at the mansion. A servant perhaps. And failed.

"Straw Hat."

Luffy turned to him.

"How many?" he asked.

Luffy seemed to understand. "All of them. Wasn't too much left when he got here. Most of those he hit were already dead. He killed what wasn't. You're the last."

Jango sighed, and called out to him. "I thought so. I suppose I'll be executed then?"

Kaya shouted, clearly paying attention, despite her being upset. "NO! No more deaths! The battle's over. Too many have died already. Even... even Merry."

Jango guessed that was the one who hadn't died immediately to Kuro. He must have held out long enough to pass along a message, or write one down.

Jango sighed. Perhaps he might be able to join Straw Hat then. They seemed a good sort.

 _ **~Kaya's Mansion Several Hours Later~**_

Luffy sat cross legged on the back of the recliner Kaya sat on, it was the highest point where he could sit comfortably, and look down on everyone. She didn't seem to mind too much.

"So, Jango's gonna join us. And Usopp promised to join as part of the payment for us helping to save the girl. And my price for saving the island is Kaya's ship." Luffy stated. "But, what's she gonna do? She's got no more servants, cause Kuro killed them all."

Kaya flinched slightly at his words reminding her of the deaths in her own home, but she nodded. "I... I don't have a problem paying the prices Usopp agreed to. More then just my servants would have died if not for you."

Luffy didn't bother responding, knowing she'd continue.

"As for what I'll do..." she hesitated. "I've been studying medicine. I'm not a doctor by any stretch of the word, but I know enough to help with injuries and common illnesses. If you don't mind having a spoiled rich girl like me on your crew, I'd be happy to join you. And give you all my money."

"Weren't you upset with all the death earlier?" Luffy asked, looking down at her, as she looked up, causing them to meet eye to eye. "There'll be a lot more on the Grand Line. I won't lie. You might even be one of those deaths. It's not known as the Pirate Graveyard for nothing."

Kaya smiled, before standing up, and moving over next to Usopp, to avoid the strain her neck would no doubt get. "That's alright. I'll admit, the bodies were shocking, but it was my first time dealing with that sort of thing. Thinking about it now, I realize it could have been worse in that they could have killed all the villagers, and done many more horrific things to the village girls. Including myself. Becoming a pirate, and doing my best to ensure Usopp and his friends stay alive is better. And you don't seem the sort to kill random people for money or loot."

Luffy nodded. "I'm not. Killing in combat is one thing. It's annoying to have to hold back in a fight just to keep weaklings alive. But killing just for the hell of it? I've got better things to do. I don't care if others do it though. That's their business. As long as they're not targeting me or mine, I don't really care one way or the other."

Kaya nodded. "I don't like it, but I get it. And I, reluctantly, agree with it. After today, and what I've realized, I would much rather have some way of protecting those I care about. I don't mind the idea of helping others, but those I care about come first. And since Usopp's the only one left I care about, I want to protect him. And, no doubt, over time, I'll come to view the rest of the crew the same way."

"So, Captain Monkey D. Luffy. Will you take me on as a nurse aboard your crew?" She asked

Luffy grinned widely. "Sure will! It'll make Usopp even more determined to protect the ship as our cannoneer, and we'll have someone with medical knowledge to boot. What's to lose?"

Kaya grinned back at him. "Excellent! As for a ship, well, Merry built many ships. He named them all Going Merry, and gave them all the same figurehead. The largest is the one we'll take. It was made for me for when I would come of age in three years, to meet with other nobles in the East Blue. Since that will never happen, it's only fair that it doesn't get wasted."

"Wait, Kaya... what about your sickness?" Usopp asked, worriedly.

Jango interrupted. "Actually, Kuro has given her some minor poisons that inhibit her health over the past year. It was part of his plan to make her sick enough that her death wouldn't be a surprise to the civillians. The pirate attack was only added in a month ago because she seems to have a higher constitution than aniticipated. She was resisting, and slowly overcoming the poisons, which was why Kuro needed something more then just a so called ' _sickness_ ', especially one that she was apparently recovering from, to finish her off."

"That explains why I feel so much better today." Kaya frowned. "I guess he put the poisons in my meals. Which might also be why he was so insistant I never skipped any meals, despite how much I wanted to. I must have instinctively realized it was tainted..."

Jango nodded. "Human minds are pretty great, right? We can instinctively know things that our conscious minds don't recognize.

Nami coughed. "As interesting as that is, and it is interesting, we should probably get a move on. Perhaps bringing us to this ship?"

Kaya nodded. "Sure. We can pack up anything in my mansion worth any money, as well as the actual money from the vault. Then we can head to the Going Merry. We'll be taking the galleon. It's already outfitted with everything we need, but if we can spare a few hours to take the ammunition from the other ships, we won't have to restock for quite awhile."

Nami agreed. "Sounds good. We should also take as much food as we can too."

"What about my ship?" Jango asked.

He didn't hold any real attachment to it. It was Kuro's first, and truthfully, if it hadn't been for Kuro keeping in touch with them, and thus keeping the loyalty of most of the crew, the name of their crew and the figurehead of the ship would have changed.

"Unless it holds sentimental value to you, we should probably take what we can from it too, and then burn it." Luffy stated. "If it holds any sentimental value, maybe we could store it here?"

Jango shook his head. "It's not a complicated ship, I'll only need two people to bring it in, since it's not a far trip. That'll make it easier to strip it of anything we can use, and we can leave it here simply because burning it will take time we don't really have to spare.

"I'll go and grab everything I can from my own house too, and bring it with me to your ship to help you bring it in." Usopp said. "I'll need to be there to help you bring it into the underground harbour."

The two stood up, ready to leave. They just needed one more to help sail the ship.

Luffy smirked. "Awesome, Zoro go help them. Then when your done, you can get started on the ship in the harbour."

"Oi, you help too." Zoro complained, lightly, punching him in the arm lightly.

Luffy laughed, and nodded. "That's the plan. I'll get started on everything down there first."

Kaya smiled. "We've only got a caravel and a schooner down there, so it won't be a hard job. Nami and I should be able to handle everything in here ourselves. There isn't much, except the money in the vault, truth be told."

Luffy grinned.

"Nami... when we set sail tomorrow, can you show me how to steer the ship? A captain should know how, right?" Luffy asked her, seriously.

Nami sighed for a second, before a sly look settled across her face. "Alright. I'll show you, but only if you do my share of the heavy lifting today."

Luffy grinned, and nodded. He liked Nami.

She, like him, was always looking to come out ahead. The difference between them was that she looked mostly at obvious value, while he was perfectly fine with spending more to get something less.

Usopp was a great example. By all rights, someone of Usopp's skill level wasn't worth fighting an entire Pirate Crew, even if he knew they would win. All manner of things could have still gone wrong. But Luffy had bet on his future value. That they managed to get a shit ton of money, a ship, loads of supplies, and a still learning nurse as well, were all bonus rewards for his bet.

Without knowing they'd get all that extra stuff, Nami would have never taken the gamble. Luffy hadn't known, and yet he had. That was what made them so different on that aspect.

Reaching the underground harbour from the basement, Luffy blinked at the three ships. All three had a figure head of a goat's head. A rather cartoonish one. It didn't matter. The figurehead wasn't important, though if he'd had a choice, he'd prefer a demonic monkey head, similar to his own head when he was transformed.

He didn't know a whole lot about sailing, but, taking in the galleon's appearence he was glad they had enough people to man it. Barely. Himself, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Jango, and Kaya. One to steer, and one to shout orders, while the other four worked their asses off. Nami could sail, and Kaya could relay orders.

His next destination was the Baratie Floating Restaurant. It was within a day's sailing, last he heard. Nami had mentioned it actually. Pirates and bounty hunters frequented the place, and Marines as well. The head chef, Zeff, was renowned for taking no bullshit, and forcing Marines and Pirates to dine in peace, or leave in pieces. The food was so good, Marines didn't bother reporting him for attacks on their idiot subordinates.

Of course, stories circulated anyways. But the chances of it getting out of East Blue was practically non-existant. Mostly only those with a connection to the World Nobles, or high ranking Marine connections, could get around the four Blue's easily. It wasn't like it would be expensive for the Marines to start that kind of an escort service for the common people, but they didn't like information being spread freely to begin with, unless they controlled it, so there was no way they'd want to let people move around freely, even if they controlled it.

As he began loading the Going Merry (galleon model) with the other ships ammunition, he took the opputunity to check the ship out. The captains quarters were located just under the highest deck, under the deck below the second highest, was the kitchen, and navigation room.

Below the main deck was the sleeping quarters, split into two seperate sides, easy for splitting between men and women, with bunk beds rather then cots, which showed the wealth of Kaya's family to be able to afford such luxurious sleeping arrangements for servants. The hallway the split the two sides led to a large empty room at both ends. The end to the rear of the ship would be the treasure room, while the other would be weapon storage.

The deck below that he'd leave up to Nami to decide. He wasn't that good a sailor to know what it should be for. Hell, he wasn't even sure if what he'd chosen the two end rooms for was right. Everything else was just obvious. Still, he stuck the ammunition where he thought it should go, and took off to get more. Nami would have the others rearrange it if she thought it needed to be done.

Still, the size of the ship was nice. He still wouldn't be able to transform though, so he couldn't stay out on nights of the Full Moon. No doubt the ship was big enough for him to stand on, but there was no way the wood would support his weight. Not when he grew to be a tad bigger then some giants.

But this was good. He had a small crew, and he planned on recruiting more at the Baratie. If all went well, he'd have at least ten, maybe a few more, before he entered the Grand Line. And he only wanted the best. That Jango guy was clearly skilled enough for now, and would only get better. Zoro was barely even scraping surface of his barrel of potential, and Usopp would no doubt become just as amazing as Zoro, only with ranged weapons. Nami was definitely an amazing Navigator, and Kaya would make an amazing doctor one day, if he could find a suitable doctor to help teach her. And one could never have enough doctors.

And then there was himself. He was pretty sure nobody in the East Blue could beat him. And he'd only keep getting stronger. His power would never stop increasing.

And now that he had a ship, his journey had, finally, truly begun.

 _ **~Chapter End~**_

Well, there's the fourth chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it.

I assure you, Jango's personality wasn't fully displayed here. I hope I can do it justice when it comes on display.

Power Levels:

 _Luffy:_ _3,_ _30_ _0_

 _Zoro: 1,700_

 _Nami: 145_

 _Usopp: 49*_

 _Kaya: 38_

 _Jango: 576_

 _1,152(Hypnosis X2)_

 _1,728(Hypnosis X3)_

 _Buchi: 385_

 _770(Hypnosis X2)_

 _1,155(Hypnosis X3)_

 _Sham: 347_

 _694(Hypnosis X2)_

 _1,041(Hypnosis X3)_

 _Kuro: 1,470_

 _2,000(Stealth Foot(Speed is closer to 4,000))_

 _Average Black Cat Pirate: 200_

 _400 (Hypnosis X2)_

 _600 (Hypnosis X3)_

Usopp's power level being this low doesn't detract from the fact that his skill with ranged weapons like guns or slingshots is still off the charts. Don't worry fans of his slingshot. His slingshot will not be discarded, and it will not be forgotten. And Usopp will get stronger, though, his power level will never be nearly as important as everyone else's power levels.

And, I'll probably avoid posting power levels of enemies until after they'd been defeated, unless they've got a powered up form.

Also no doubt some will notice, and complain, that Jango, at a 3X boost from his hypnotism, is slightly stronger then Zoro right now. That said, as was explained, it's a temporary boost that doesn't last long. And Zoro's greater skill would still see Jango defeated fairly easily were they too fight.

The hypnotism boost has more weaknesses to it as well. On top of exhausting the one it's used on due to the completely forced out extra muscle power, which acts as a super adrenaline rush, the kind mothers get to lift cars off their children, it's also very susceptible to being broken. As it's caused by hypnosis, shocks to the body, such as powerful attacks being delivered on them, will break the hypnosis quickly, or even immediately.

Hope that explained that.

I'm taking All Hallows Eve for myself, so expect the next chapter within a few days before or after All Hallows Eve.


	6. Chapter 5

Merry Christmas to all of you.

I'm not apologizing for the lateness of this chapter.

Anyways, I'll try not to take too long on the next chapter, but I promise nothing. Also, any previous statements I made about following an updating schedule? Well, consider them rescinded, as I will no longer follow one, instead writing when I can. Real life comes first, sadly enough.

 _ **~Chapter 5~**_

Once they'd hit open water, and only needed to rely on the wind, Luffy learned that it wasn't necessary to keep everyone on non-stop duty, just so long as they were aware of their surroundings, and could react quickly enough. Ships had advanced quite a bit over the centuries, allowing for crews to relax more then they used to.

It was only expected on a planet made of 90% water, with the 10% of land constituting one super continent that acted as a natural barrier between seas, and thousands of islands, few of which were large enough to require any more then a few days travel from one side to the other. Many of them, in fact, were small enough to be walked in their entirety in only a few hours.

As a result of ship technological advances however, the crew was usually enjoying themselves in various ways. Except for the hours Luffy insisted everyone had to train for.

Zoro and Luffy were sparring, viciously, in an attempt to hone their skills, and strengthen themselves through combat. Kaya kept worrying one of them would get seriously hurt, and specifically that Luffy might lose an arm. This worry was not assuaged by Luffy's claim that as long as his tail and dick weren't cut off, he could do without an arm.

Usopp and Kaya were doing, as Luffy ordered, some workouts he'd designed for them. Luffy was of the belief that, whether or not they specialized in fighting up close, all his crew should be at least decent when it came to hand-to-hand combat, and one needed a good physique for that.

Kaya's were much less intensive then Usopp's, but Luffy was planning on teaching her a more evasive fighting style, so having bulk would only get in the way. Plus, she was still recovering from a year of non-stop poisoning, and wouldn't be able to handle anything too strenuous.

Jango was with them, deciding to take Luffy's advice to train and try and make his body stronger to endure his self-hypnosis for longer periods of time. He didn't know if it would work, but, if it didn't, at the very least, he'd make himself stronger.

He had hypnotized himself and Usopp into doing as many of each workout as they could before their body would not gain anything from the exercise.

Nami was making sure they remained on course, in an effort to avoid training like the others. Luffy wasn't pleased with this, but admitted it would be bad if they kept getting off track just because no one was watching their direction.

They'd been at sea for a few days now.

"Alright everyone, time for a break!" Luffy shouted, catching Zoro's swords with his bare hands, getting a light scream of fear from Kaya, before she relaxed.

Zoro was certainly strong enough to cut Luffy, but other then his Wado Ichimonji, none of the blades themselves were actually strong enough to resist breaking first, and Zoro still didn't know how to protect his weapons from being damaged in altercations. As a result, despite how viciously they'd been attacking each other, neither was going all out, and was prepared to pull back an attack at a moments notice.

"Usopp! Wanna show me how good you are with a cannon?" Luffy asked, giddy at the prospect of something being blown up.

Usopp shrugged. "Sure."

Once Usopp had the cannon set-up, he'd aimed it at a rock outcropping.

The explosion had Luffy gushing in awe. No matter how many times one saw an explosion, they never got old. And, while Luffy could make an explosion even bigger then that with his Ki, there was something about an explosion made with explosives, rather than energy, that was just more awesome.

"So cooooool!" Luffy shouted.

Zoro scoffed. "Please, you made a bigger explosion at the Marine base in Shell town, when you blew up that kids room."

Nami twitched weirdly. "That was you?"

Luffy laughed. "Yup."

Nami sighed. "Scared the hell out of me, and I ended up leaving some treasure behind there cause I thought the whole place was coming down."

"Well, whatever. That was awesome, Usopp!" Luffy grinned. "You're a super sniper, great at arts, and your really fast, despite being so weak. Is there anything you can't do?"

"Take a hit?" Zoro suggested.

"Throw a punch?" Jango added.

"Go a day without lieing?" Nami asked hopefully.

Usopp hung his head.

"Well, hopefully the first two won't apply once you've gotten trained up." Luffy grinned. "That last one doesn't matter at all."

Nami rolled her eyes. "Well, whatever, we've got company."

A rowboat was practically rocketing towards them, it's occupants consisting of an angry healthy man, and a moaning sick man.

"They came from that rocky outcropping." Nami revealed. "I think Usopp's accuracy caused them some problems."

Zoro frowned. "Wait a minute... I know them."

The boat thudded against the Going Merry, and the healthy man climbed up, sword swinging. "How dare you pirates attack us! I'll have yo-"

"Yo! Johnny! How's it going? How's Yosaku? Where is he anyways?" Zoro called out.

"Brother Zoro?" the man named Johnny asked. "Oh no! Have these filthy pirates caught you?"

"Brother?" Luffy asked. "Zoro, you never mentioned you were a monk!"

"I'm not. Never was. He's just a moron." Zoro shrugged.

Nobody bothered to ask why Luffy's mind went to the word 'Monk' at the word 'Brother', rather then thinking these guys were related to Zoro. They'd learned that, as powerful and serious as Luffy could be, he was weird and crazy first and foremost. Nor did they bother to ask why Zoro took that assumption as natural. They'd decided long ago that for as observant and keen as Zoro was, he was a moron.

Zoro turned to Johnny to respond to him. "I'm not captured. I'm the vice-captain and first mate of this ship. Luffy, the man in the Straw Hat, is my captain. I'm a pirate now."

Johnny swallowed nervously. "Uh... sorry about the insults then."

"So, where's Yosaku?" Zoro repeated. "Last I recall you two were always together."

Johnny jumped. "Yosaku! He's sick, brother Zoro. He needs help right away! He's down on our boat right now."

"Bring him up here." Kaya interrupted. "I'm not a doctor yet, but I've studied medicine, so I should be able to help."

Yosaku, as it turned out, had been suffering from scurvy. Luckily, he was only beginning to feel the symptoms, and was over-exaggerating just how bad he felt. Some lemon juice was handed out all around, and the man was feeling better immediately, though Kaya estimated he wouldn't be at a hundred percent for a few days to come.

"Still, this raises a point. We're seriously going to need a proper cook who knows what kind of nutrition we need." Usopp pointed out.

"That's why I'm having Nami take us to the Baratie Floating Restaurant." Luffy shrugged. "I've heard only good things about their chefs, so I want to claim one for my crew. Dunno how yet though. I doubt strong-arming one will work."

"Well, you're on the right track." Johnny pointed out. "It was seen last only about half a day's sailing from here."

Yosaku nodded. "We were on our way there when I took ill."

"Faker." Johnny muttered.

Luffy turned to Nami.

"Shouldn't be long, captain." Nami shrugged. "I can get us there much faster, and it doesn't seem anyone's realized I didn't stop the ship, when these two came aboard."

Yosaku and Johnny went bug eyed at this. "You didn't!?"

"Nope."

Johnny hung his head. "Least we grabbed our stuff, but that little vessel was my fathers."

"Which you took from him without him knowing." Zoro pointed out.

Yosaku nodded. "And which he was gonna turn into firewood, as he'd bought a better one for his fishing business, and was to lazy to cut his own firewood, and to cheap to go and buy any from the lumber mill."

"Shut up. Who cares if it's worthless sentimentally, it was still worth some small bit of money, and now we don't have one. Hard to be bounty hunters of pirates when we have no method of getting to the pirates. Or bringing them in." Johnny pointed out.

Luffy shrugged. "No big deal. Stop being bounty hunters and join my crew instead."

Johnny and Yosaku frowned and huddled down together, contemplating the offer. The phrase, "Brother Zoro is with him" was repeated several times. Also a point of "We've screwed up how many times" was made twice.

Finally the duo stood up and nodded. "After careful consideration, we've decided to accept your offer."

"You know I heard your entire conversation right?" Luffy wondered.

"What!?" they asked in shock.

"Oi. Luffy, does the rest of the crew know about you not being completely human?" Zoro asked.

Nami froze, wondering what he might partly be.

Luffy shook his head. "Nah, guess it slipped my mind. Suppose I should explain it."

At Zoro's nod, he began his explanation.

The looks on everyone's faces were interesting to note for the young captain. Usopp was both impressed and a bit relieved, whilst also being a tad bit jealous, likely because he found it unfair that other species had so many advantages over humans.

Jango was simply curious.

Kaya seemed to be looking at him like she was wondering what made him tick, likely curious about how his biology might be different from a humans, and what that would mean for her as a doctor, treating him.

Yosaku and Johnny, to their credit, reacted like Zoro did. Mostly uncaring, but pointing out the uses his race had for getting stronger. It really showed why Zoro bothered with these two, in that they had somewhat similar personalities to Zoro.

Nami had the most interesting reaction, looking like she wanted to beg him to do something.

"How strong are you right now?" she asked. "Could you handle a fishman?"

Luffy snorted. "Fishman? Please, at least compare me to a giant. The average giant is easily 100 times stronger then the average human. Fishmen are a mere 10 times stronger then a human, and I could definitely give a giant a run for it's money right now. Probably even win, since I'm such a small target."

"You're not boasting? Not just playing yourself up?" she demanded.

Luffy blinked, shocked at her tone, since she'd never sounded so desperate before, and he'd never heard such desperation from anyone before. "I assure you, Nami, nothing in the East Blue stands a chance against me. The only ones who might have a chance are Red Leg Zeff, who runs the Baratie, though he's a cripple last I heard, so he's not likely to win, and Smoker who's running the Logue Town Marine base as of a few months ago.

"From what I weaselled out of my grandpa, who gave him the orders to be stationed there, Smoker's got a Logia Devil Fruit. He'd be out cleaning pirates up around the East Blue if he could, but the Fleet Admiral wants someone powerful preventing anyone else from the East Blue, like Gol D. Roger, from ever rising up and conquering the Grand Line again, so his job is just to put down rookies in the East Blue before they enter the Grand Line, cause Logue Town is the last place to stop before Reverse Mountain, and once your in the Grand Line, it could be weeks before you see civilization."

"So... it's not that this Smoker guy doesn't want to remove certain pirates that have been taking over, but that he's not allowed? Like, say, the Arlong Pirates?" She wondered.

Yosaku frowned. "Arlong Pirates? They're not really pirates. They're privateers in the employ of the World Government. Well, not the Arlong pirates specifically, but Arlong himself is, and thus anyone under him is by extension."

"What?" Nami snapped towards him.

Luffy picked up. "Arlong is a member of Jinbei's crew. You know, the Knight of the Sea? One of the Seven Warlords of the Sea? They're seven powerful pirates who sold some of their freedom, and 10% of all treasure they pirate from others, in exchange for being allowed to be pirates. Most of us pirates consider them to be dogs of the World Government. They, and all their associate groups, are sanctioned by the World Government. As well as anything they do."

Nami trembled. "So... everything they've done to me and my home... it was sanctioned by the Marines?"

"What, you want me to stop him then?" Luffy asked, deciding to ignore that she was upset. It was a bad thing to be sure, most Fishmen were not known to be nice to humans. Still, the situation worked in his benefit, so he couldn't complain, and comforting her would be pointless, because he was terrible with upset people, and often made things worse.

He continued as his stomach made an unnoticed gurgle. "I bet if we recruit a chef, the guy might be willing to make some sushi out of him if you want?"

Nami swallowed her emotions. "Luffy. If you can defeat Arlong, without implicating me as sending you after him, just in case you fail, I'll be your navigator until you no longer need me."

"That'll be forever you know. And you'll be going back on our old deal." Luffy pointed out.

"I know." she nodded.

Luffy grinned. "Then consider Arlong dead. We'll get ourselves a chef first though. It's definitely the most important thing right now.

Nami frowned. "I've only got two weeks before I'm supposed to be back at my village. I'm on a deadline."

"Then we'll get our cook, and head to your village. If it takes too long to get the cook, we'll head to your village before the deadline, and then go back to trying to recruit a chef." Zoro shrugged. "Simple, right?"

Nami nodded. "Yea. Sounds good."

The next few hours were spent getting to know Johnny and Yosaku, and as the Baratie came into view, the Straw Hats had a very brief encounter with a Marine ship.

"Hey, you, are you Pirates? I don't recognize that flag!" the man clearly in charge said, as he smirked to a woman by his side.

Luffy looked at him. "We are. We're the Straw Hat Pirates. Go away or I'll kill you."

"Are you threatening me, pirate? I'm a Marine Officer." the man complained.

"So?" Zoro wondered.

The man grumbled. "I was going to just let you go, considering how unknown you are, but I think I'm just gonna sink you here."

Luffy scoffed and raised a hand. "I said go away."

What happened next was a treat for everyone, even Zoro who had yet to see this kind of attack in action, barring the results of a similar attack. A small ball of yellow energy appeared in Luffy's hand, before flashing brightly, and turning into a beam of energy that broke through the Marine vessel and exited through the hull.

The pirates continued sailing as the Marines panicked and ran around like a bunch of lunatics.

"Shit! What the fuck was that?" Jango screamed.

Usopp gushed "You can shoot lasers? That's so cool!"

"That's that Ki stuff right? Really got learn that stuff." Zoro grinned.

Kaya blinked. "Is this some of that ' _special stuff_ ' you said you'd teach us?"

Nami sunk to the floor. "I promise not to skip training anymore."

Johnny and Yosaku simply gaped in awe.

Luffy laughed. "That's nothing. Hardly took any energy at all. I could wipe out an entire fleet of weaklings like that. It's just using your natural bodies energy in it's rawest form, yet also controlling it perfectly. Zoro could have done that easily if he knew how to use his energy. So could Jango I think."

Not much was said after that, other then a promise from Luffy that he planned on teaching everyone on his crew how to use Ki.

Anchoring their ship, once they'd reached the Baratie, they left Johnny and Yosaku, as the two newest crew members, on watch duty, and headed inside.

The sous chef was acting as waiter, or so he'd said. His name was Sanji, and he'd immediately taken a liking to Nami and Kaya, offering praises of their beauty.

Johnny and Yosaku were happy to learn that the Baratie had no issues delivering out to ships that docked, otherwise they'd have gone hungry.

It wasn't until the crew had nearly finished their dessert that Luffy decided to not look at any other chefs, and had decided that Sanji was going to be his chef.

When their desserts were delivered, Sanji had to move on to a new customer. One who was not pleased, and was glaring up at the Straw Hats.

Luffy scratched his head in confusion. "That guy looks familiar. Have I threatened him before?"

Zoro shrugged. "I dunno. I don't really care to remember unimportant people, and I've only been with you for a few weeks, so I dunno if you've threatened anyone before that."

"He's that Marine guy we just encountered." Usopp pointed out. "The guy whose ship you blew a hole into?"

"Oh!" Luffy laughed. "Sorry about your ship, weakling. I hope we can still be friends."

The man growled, and looked like he was going to go into an apoplectic rage.

"Calm down, sir! He blew a hole in our ship, and we barely escaped!" a marine hissed. "We still don't even know how the prisoner survived, but he was clearly injured, so it's definitely not a superficial attack."

The woman with them hid behind the angry man, obviously fearful.

The man took several deep breaths, and sat down at the offered table. "Ignore them, and let's enjoy our meal, before calling for a pick-up from Logue Town."

Luffy wasn't sure what the man was thinking, when he tried to tell Sanji he was wrong about the wine he was given, but figured it wasn't important. Wine was fine enough a drink, but, as far as he was concerned, all wine tasted the same. He'd had the supposed ' _good stuff_ ' when it came to wine, and the supposed ' _cheap swill_ ', but it all tasted the same. Real men drank rum and mead anyways.

What was truly amusing was what happened when Sanji delivered the Marines their food.

"Hey, waiter!"

"Again, I'm the sous chef, but what is it?"

"Tell me what this bug is doing in my soup!" The man demanded.

One of his men hissed, clearly disappointed. "Lieutenant Fullbody!"

Sanji looked into the soup bowl. "Hm... I'm no expert on insect swimming styles, but it looks like the front crawl to me."

Fullbody didn't appreciate that, though his date giggled. "How dare you! Am I not a paying customer? I demand better service!"

He finished this by tossing the soup to the floor.

Sanji inhaled sharply, before crouching down and picking pieces of the broken bowl. "I spent three days preparing this soup."

Sanji stood back up, clearly pissed off. "A paying customer you might be, but can your money feed you?"

"What?" Fullbody asked, confused at the line of questioning.

It was understandable. Most would assume that money could feed them, by being used to buy food. But Sanji was asking if the money could literally feed him. If the money, on it's own, without being used to buy food, could feed him.

"I'm asking if you can eat your money. Well? Can you? Regardless, the food you just wasted could have been put to use to keep someone, anyone, from starving to death." Sanji ranted. It was clear such actions as wasting food really hit a sore spot with him.

"Who cares? I'll waste all the food I want, as long I've paid for it!" the man said, reaching for another dish to throw to the floor.

He didn't reach it before a foot connected with his face.

Sanji driven by anger, proceeded to kick him repeatedly, before launching him towards the doors. "If you wanna waste our food, there's the fucking door."

Fullbody, barely recovered, as Sanji had been holding back, despite his anger, got to his feet. "You'll pay for this! What kind of restaurant let's it waiters rough up the customers like this!?"

"I told you. I'm the sous chef." Sanji told him.

"Sir!" a marine shouted, entering the restaurant. "We need your help! The prisoner es-ugh!"

A gunshot had rung out, and the Marine dropped to the ground dead. A glance outside would have shown a tired and injured man walking away from several other dead marines meant to be watching him, and entering the restaurant.

"'Sup? I want some grub." the tired and injured looking man said. "My caretakers here neglected to feed me, and someone decided to blow up my cell when they sunk the Marine Ship I had been imprisoned on. Understandably, I'm quite hungry."

"A prisoner all of five seconds ago?" one of the other chefs asked, having come out to see the commotion. "And do you have money to pay for this meal?"

"Do you take lead?" he asked, holding up the gun he'd taken from the corpse of a Marine.

"I'll take that as a no. Well-"

"Patty, shut up, and get him some food." Sanji ordered.

And that was when Luffy decided. Sanji's dedication to keeping people from being starved on the ocean was exactly what he needed on his ship. It helped that he was obviously a master of the culinary arts.

So he spoke up. "If money's truly an issue, add his meal to my bill. I won't let anyone go hungry if I can help it."

As a saiyan, his family all had massive appetites. He knew the feeling of feeling starved. He required about five times as much food as any human. This wasn't always an option however, so he often felt hungry.

Sanji looked at him with respect. "There we go, Patty. Your petty, minor, unimportant concern about money, is solved."

Patty sighed. "Fine!"

The criminal looked to Luffy, with conflicting emotions, before settling on gratitude. "I appreciate that, stranger. My name is Gin."

"Monkey D. Luffy, future King of Pirates." Luffy stated, before turning back to his desserts.

"You plan on entering the Grand Line then?" Gin asked, and as his meal was delivered, he moved it to a table closer to the Straw Hats.

"That's right." Luffy nodded.

"Let me give you some advice. Don't." Gin stated. "I've been there it's... horrifying. My captain, Don Kreig, had a crew of 5000, and we fled back here with only 100 men, and a tattered ship."

"Hm... must have met a monster then. You probably didn't piss of a Yonko, as only Shanks might have left you alive, and that's only if he was drunk, but even then, they mostly stick to the second half of the Grand Line. Most of the Warlords wouldn't have left you alive, except Jinbei and Dracule. And Dracule would only do so to hunt you down later to kill some time. Jinbei would have left you alive, only if you fled, but that's because he tries to live up to his title of, Knight of the Sea. And anyone else would have killed you all to avoid more competition."

Gin stared. "You... you're pretty knowledgeable about that place."

Luffy shrugged. "Maybe."

"Well, I can't stop you from trying, and you seem to know enough to know it's dangerous, so I won't presume to know better then you." Gin said, giving up, and finishing his meal. "Thanks for the food. I'll pay you back one day, so try not to die before then. You too, cook."

"Sanji." Sanji corrected.

"Sanji. Join my crew!" Luffy said, suddenly. "I need a chef."

"What? No. I refuse."

"No, I refuse."

"What?"

"I refuse your refusal."

"You can't do that. Listen, I've got my reasons for refusing."

"What are they?"

"None of your business!"

Luffy frowned. "Your confusing. It doesn't matter. Your joining my crew."

"Is he now?" a voice asked, drawing the attention of everyone, who had been previously watching the back and forth of the Pirate Captain and the Sous Chef. "Well, good riddance."

"What? Fuck you old geezer! I ain't leaving. I'm staying here til I die or take over the restaurant from you." Sanji insisted.

"Bah, you'll die first, cause I'm gonna live another hundred years!" the man stated, before looking at Luffy. "So, your the brat that got me expecting a fight. You feel like a predator. You a carnivorous Zoan user? Got a name?"

"Monkey D. Luffy, and I ate the Gum Gum Fruit."

"Is that so? Not a Zoan at all then. Interesting. They're the only ones I ever felt like prey around before." the head chef - for who else could command the sous chef? - explained. "The names Zeff, by the way."

Gin stood up. "As interesting as all this is, I have to get back to my captain and crew. Thank you again, for the food."

He left, and took the dinghy previously owned by the Marines, of which most were dead, with the survivors waiting for a pick up from Logue Town.

Sanji continued refusing to join his crew, and so Luffy insisted on waiting around to try and convince him over time.

"3 more days, Luffy." Nami told him later that evening. "That's the most we can wait here for, if we're going to make it on time for my deadline."

Luffy nodded. "Got it. It's fine though. I've got a good feeling."

 _ **~Chapter End~**_

Well, there's the fifth chapter.

I'm not pleased with it. I feel like Sanji is constantly OOC, but maybe it's just me. If anyone can give me some feedback on how I wrote Sanji, and how to improve him, I'd like it.

Anyways, here's the power levels for those introduced this chapter.

Power Levels:

 _Luffy:_ _3,_ _4_ _0_ _0_

 _Zoro: 2,000_

 _Nami: 145_

 _Usopp: 60_

 _Kaya: 43_

 _Jango: 576_

 _Sanji: 1,11_ _4_

 _Zeff: (Total) 7,830_

 _(Effective) 876 (Due to age and injury.)_

 _(Occasional Bursts):3,000 (Exhausts him for days if he uses this much power, meaning he has to be 100% sure he'll hit his enemy)_

 _Gin: 1,11_ _5_


	7. Chapter 6

Hey, sorry this chapter is so late. It would have been up about around the end of April, but when my brother got hit by a car, this wasn't really a high priority, and I forgot it was even finished.

No promises on the next chapter. On top of everything that's happened, plus work, I've got a few other fan fiction stories I'm working on that I haven't put on the site yet. Plus, I have a life. So yeah, fan fiction is kind of way down on my list of things to do.

 _ **~Chapter 6~**_

For Luffy, waiting was hard. It was made all the more difficult by his apparent lack of success in recruiting Sanji. The man wouldn't budge.

He tried, after a suggestion from Zoro, to use Kaya and Nami to recruit him, but Usopp threatened to mutiny if he tried to use Kaya like that, and Nami alone was clearly not enough if the way she was acting already wasn't working.

So, he resorted to simply begging, demanding, and implying it was an already made decision.

Luckily, despite waiting three days to change Sanji's answer, there was something else they could do. And Nami couldn't back out of it this time.

Training.

Zoro had made excellent progress, and Luffy found his own power rising in response to the threat Zoro was slowly becoming to him. He'd taught them all the basics of ki manipulation, but for the most part, he told them to stick to enhancing their bodies with ki. Externally used ki was dangerous to the ships after all. And Zoro took to it like a fish to water. From what Luffy could gather, Zoro was probably already using it subconsciously all his life to have gotten so strong so quickly while being only a mere human.

Usopp was just as receptive to the training. He was surprisingly quick on his feet for someone so weak, and Luffy guessed he too must have subconsciously used it to increase his speed over the years. As a result from all his current training, and the use of ki during it, it was having a noticeable effect on his body. His once scrawny twig like arms were getting bigger, and muscle that was developing was well defined.

Jango took a bit longer to understand ki manipulation, but once he'd figured it out, he'd loaded his pendulum with it, and found he could fire off concentrated discs of energy from it, or use his energy to subtly, yet quickly, hypnotize someone.

Jango was the reason Luffy forbade them from practising external ki attacks on the ship. The mast still had a millimetre thick and half an inch long, hole in it from Jango's display.

Kaya was still trying to figure it out, but she was getting better about the movement portion of learning to defend herself. Luckily, the cooks at the Baratie had dealt with poison before, and knew some good recipes that would help with poisoned people. So long as the poison wasn't lethal. Sanji himself took care to make her meals, as he'd learned the best from the head chef when he was just a boy. Sanji estimated she'd be fine with only a week of the meals, which he'd prepare for her when they left, if they left before she was better.

Trying to use that to get Sanji to come with them hadn't worked either, to Luffy's dismay. But he wouldn't give up. He'd made his decision that Sanji would join them. Sure, they'd have to leave to take care of Nami's problem today, but they'd be back.

Nami was the hardest to train, as she was the only one who didn't really want to. Her insistence that she was a navigator and thus too valuable to risk was met with questions of what she'd do if she had to defend herself. That was the only reason Luffy could get her to train at all. But a reluctant fighter wasn't a good one, usually.

And it showed with how slowly she was improving. Even Kaya was catching up with her, and Kaya was still recovering from being poisoned for over a year.

They were having one last breakfast on the Baratie before they'd leave for Nami's home, and thus, it was Luffy's last chance to recruit Sanji for at least a day or two.

"Come on! Please!" Luffy insisted. "What'd be wrong with being a pirate?"

"Nothing, except I'm not leaving!" Sanji countered. "Here's your breakfast. Enough bacon to feed an orphanage for a week, enough eggs to feed an impoverished nation, and enough toast to build a house. I'll be right back with the rest of the tables orders in a moment."

He was over exaggerating the food amount, but Luffy really was a tough one to cook for, if only because of the sheer amount of food he required. His tastes were relatively simple in comparison, for which anyone who'd ever cooked for him was no doubt grateful. If it was edible, Luffy would eat it.

"It's the women, isn't it?" Luffy decided, going with a plan Usopp came up with. "You're secretly gay, and you don't want to have to put on an act for the rest of your life."

"How dare you!" Sanji roared. "I'll show you how devoted the boobies I am! I accept, and I'll totally sleep with Nami!"

Luffy grinned. Nami twitched in annoyance, but tried to ignore it, having no immediate plans on ever letting their new cook complete this stated goal.

Sanji froze. "Ah, shit. I didn't mean it! I was just joking! There's no way I'm going to be a pirate!"

"Too bad, eggplant." Zeff shouted from the kitchen. "Everyone heard you. Unless you want to be a liar. You don't want that, do you? I don't recall ever raising a liar, so if you do go back on your word, I'm throwing you out."

Sanji grit his teeth in anger. "Damn it! Fuck! Fine! Give me a few hours to get my shit ready then."

Sanji stormed off, as Zeff exited the kitchen with everyone's orders, while Luffy inhaled what Sanji had brought him earlier.

"It's about time you figured out how to get him. He needs this. He really does. He'll regret it the rest of his life if he never follows his dream." Zeff explained. "You just promise me you'll take care of him, alright? He's like a son to me."

Luffy nodded. "You got it, old man!"

Suddenly, the front door slammed open, and Gin was back. This time, he had a man over his shoulder.

"Please, I need food for my captain!" Gin said urgently. "I have money this time, so we can pay!"

Patty, another cook, sneered. "Yeah right! That's Don Kreig. You think we're dumb enough to fee him? He'll kill everyone after he's done."

The man, Kreig, coughed, and pushed himself to the ground, on his knees. "Please. I'm begging you. Just one meal."

Zeff had vanished at some point, and Luffy noticed why, as he saw the man walking from the kitchen with a bowl of soup and rice. "Here. Both are light and easy on the stomach."

Kreig had tears falling from his eyes as he mumbled something, and began digging in.

"But... Chef Zeff..." Patty started.

"I will never let anyone starve at sea." Zeff stated simply. "I'll go get started on more food. He's got a hungry crew waiting."

"That's, right. I do." Kreig said, looking much better then he did a moment ago. "And this ship looks interesting. I'll take it too."

Luffy turned to face him, finishing his meal.

"What'd you say, pirate?" Carne, another chef demanded.

"I'm taking your ship." Kreig repeated.

"But, Don! You promised you wouldn't hurt them!" Gin said, shock flowing through him that his captain would go back on his word.

"Shut up, Gin. It'll be the perfect element of surprise. No one would dare think pirates would sail in this thing." Kreig explained. "With my power, and the amount of crew members I have, we're only missing one thing. Information. Fortunately, that was Red Leg Zeff, and he's sailed the Grand Line before."

"Aye, I have." Zeff said, walking back, and dropping a sack in front of Kreig. "Food for about 100. Should be enough."

"I'm taking your ship. And I'll want your logbook of your travels in the Grand Line." Kreig stated.

"No. Go feed your men. I'll kill you when you get back to try and take my ship." Zeff said simply.

"Hmph. The only thing I lacked was information. With your logbook, I'll become the Pirate King." Kreig stated loudly.

This declaration would have captured most peoples attention, in fear, had the room been filled with lesser men. As it was, only the cooks that worked under Zeff and Sanji were shocked at the declaration. Gin was both horrified and awed.

He was awed at the dedication his captain showed to achieving his goals, but horrified at the lengths he was willing to go, even breaking his own word to his first mate. He was unsure how to feel about this. Whether he should be impressed that his captain would do whatever it took to reach his dream, or insulted that he, the closest person to his captain, was just as worthless to him as anyone else.

But all of those feelings of Gin's, and the feelings of fear felt by the cooks, were ground to a halt by the childish snort of a teenager.

Luffy, the one who'd snorted, looked at Kreig mockingly. "You're wrong, you know? I'm the one who's going to become the Pirate King. And I'll tell you why. You started all wrong. You built the army, and then tried to take the throne. I bet a power core never even occurred to you."

"What'd you say, brat?" Kreig glared.

Luffy smirked at him and spoke as if explaining to a child.

"Allow me to educate you. When taking a throne, you must first start by building a power core. People who are close to you, and powerful enough to stand next to you on the battlefield. People you would trust to stand next to you. You can go after the throne while building that core group, or after you've built it, but it's important that it's reasonably developed before you start going for the throne in earnest. Once you start making some headway for the throne, that's when you can begin recruiting the army. The people who'll trust you to rule them fairly. I mean, we're pirates so that's subjective, but even a Pirate King needs some morals. With both your power core and your army, you can delegate control of the army to your trusted members, and focus on bigger things without fear. Without the power core, you've got to watch over the entire army, which means less time planning for other stuff. It limits you. One it's all set up though, that's when you strike for home and take the throne. And that throne is mine. I will be the Pirate King. Consider me the Pirate Prince if you want, cause it's already been decided that the throne is mine. I'm just on my way to the coronation ceremony."

"That's not funny, brat." Kreig stated, just as angry at the declaration as he was angry at being spoken to like a child, by, what he considered, a child.

"I wasn't laughing." Luffy countered, the look in his eye leaving no room for argument.

Kreig sneered, to cover the hint of fear he felt at that look. "You've all got ten minutes. Once my men have eaten, I'm taking control of this ship."

Sanji came back down. "What's this about someone taking control of the ship?"

Patty filled him in swiftly, as Kreig left.

"I see." He stated, before turning to Luffy. "Tell you what. You help defend this ship and get rid of Kreig, and I'll join you without complaint."

Luffy looked to Nami.

Nami sighed. "Fine, but hurry. We definitely have to be out of here before lunch.

Luffy smirked.

He walked out of the restaurant, his crew following him. Not even ten minutes later, they heard cheering and roars of approval coming from Kreig's rundown ship. Men began pouring out of the ship, with Kreig following behind a large group of them, Gin next to him.

"Are you all ready to die?" Kreig sneered.

"Are you?" Luffy threw his words back at him, dropping into his fighting stance.

He wasn't sure how he knew, but he felt there was someone really powerful nearby. Stronger than even him. He wouldn't be able to just mess around this time, like he had before. This person was on his grandfathers level. He didn't know how he knew this, but, somehow, he did. What he didn't know was where they were.

Before the battle could begin however, the massive wrecked galleon was split in two, and Luffy's eyes widened as he turned to look at the source of power he had sensed, that had, for a brief moment, become focused. Through the spray of seawater, and over the sounds of cracking wood and splashing, and screams of terror and surprise, his eyes locked onto the owner of the massive power. Pitch black eyes, devoid of any sense of display of emotion, contrary their owners face, stared into the hawk-like eyes of the ship-destroyer.

A massive black blade slipped back into it's sheathe, the owner's eyes leaving Luffy's to look at everyone else, as if Luffy wasn't worth his time.

His pride damaged at the subtle and unconscious dismissal, Luffy's anger raged forward.

Before he could act on it, Kreig's crew roared and screamed insults and obscenities, before someone fired off a shot. Luffy's eyes followed the bullet as if it flew in slow motion. And faster than he could see, the bullet vanished from his view, with a black blur.

Zoro spoke, having realized what happened.

"The galleon... it was cut in half." Zoro spoke, drawing the attention of the powerful man, and Luffy. "Those eyes, and that sword... and the grace with which you deflected that bullet... there's no doubt about who you are. You're Dracule 'Hawk-Eyes' Mihawk, aren't you?"

Mihawk spoke, a voice rich and mature with culture and experience. "Some call me that, yes. Who is it that is asking?"

"My name is Roronoa Zoro. I'm impressed with the way you wield that massive sword." Zoro stated, eagerness barely restrained in his voice.

"A swordsman who has no grace with his sword can not be called a swordsman. Power alone gets a man nowhere." Mihawk stated.

"I agree. Listen, I'm going to kill you. Not for any stupid reason like revenge though. I'm going to become the worlds greatest swordsman, and the current owner of that title is you."

"Is that so? Very well, I do have some time to kill. I was going to spend it terrorizing this pathetic crew some more, but playing with some weakling swordsman sounds even more amusing." Mihawk agreed, pulling his cross necklace off and revealing it was a tiny blade. "I hope you'll forgive me, but I have no smaller weapons.

Zoro scowled. "Don't mock me!"

"I'm not. I'm just not the sort to hunt a rabbit with a cannon." Mihawk informed him simply.

With that Zoro rushed Mihawk in a rage.

Yosaku swallowed nervously, and Johnny voiced their worries. "Can brother Zoro actually win this?"

"No." Luffy stated immediately. "Zoro is going to die."

His crew looked at him sharply. "What?"

His pride wouldn't let him admit it, so he worded it differently. "That man could probably make me really work for a victory. I still haven't fought Zoro seriously yet myself, and he still hasn't beaten me. That man is going to kill Zoro."

Nami shouted. "Then get in there and help him!"

"And have him hate me for the rest of his life?" He asked.

He'd never outwardly admit that if he did try to help Zoro, all he would accomplish is giving Mihawk two lives to take instead of one. It pained his pride to even admit it to himself. Admitting it to others would probably cause him physical pain

"Zoro is the sort who would never forgive someone for interrupting something like this. This is his dream. If we stop this fight here and now, it'll be like we're denying him his dream." Luffy explained. "And I know full well that if anyone of you tried to stop me from completing my dream just because it might cause my death, I'd kill the person who tried to stop me. Our dreams are what we live for. If we can't even put our lives on the line for them, then we ourselves aren't worthy of having those dreams."

Nami didn't understand. She still didn't, as far as she was concerned, this was just stupid manly pride.

Kaya understood. It saddened her, but she understood, because she knew Usopp was the same way, and she would never deny him his dream, knowing it would kill him inside.

Jango didn't understand. He once did, but he had long forgotten what it was like to dream. But those words were reminding him.

Johnny and Yosaku understood, not because they got what Luffy meant, but because they knew Zoro would rather die than be saved in a one-on-one fight between swordsmen. In a skirmish, or all out war, it would be different, but not in a one-on-one fight for honour like this.

Sanji was listening to this, and was somewhat amazed at how far Luffy, and even his first mate, were willing to go for their dreams, without throwing their allies under the proverbial ship. Knowing this, it was easier to accept that he'd stupidly agreed to join this crew in defence of his sexuality. His dream was the same as his mentors. Putting his life on the line for his dream would be worth it.

Everyone, even Kreig and his crew watched as Zoro proved how far ahead of everyone else he was, and as Mihawk proved how pitiful everyone, including Zoro and Luffy, were in comparison were to him.

Usopp noticed this. "Luffy... could you beat Mihawk if you gave it your all?"

Luffy frowned. He never wanted to admit it, but he hadn't considered his Oozaru form. He'd never fought seriously in that form, not even against his grandfather.

"In this form? Probably not. If I transformed, it'd be tough, but... I think so." Luffy admitted. "I'd be a much bigger target, but I'd also be ten times more powerful."

"What do you mean transform?" Usopp asked.

Luffy frowned, before remembering that, while he'd explained that he was a saiyan, he never once mentioned the transformed state of the Oozaru to them.

"I'll explain later." He promised, as Zoro was impaled on the tiny knife of Mihawk's.

"Why do you not step back?" Mihawk asked, his voice silencing anyone who might have been talking.

"I dunno. I feel like, if I did, I'd be giving up on everything I've ever held close to me. That I'd be abandoning every promise I've ever made. That I'd never be able to face you again if I did." Zoro explained, as the words came to his head. A stream of consciousness turned into words.

Mihawk nodded his head slightly. "That's what they call defeat."

"Yeah? Well, I'd rather die then admit defeat." Zoro told him.

"Is that so? I've underestimated you." Mihawk said, replacing his knife-cross necklace with his large black sword. "You are no mere wannabe swordsman. You are a true swordsman, and I've insulted you by not treating you as such. Come, I will finish this with my greatest weapon. The greatest sword in the world, Yoru, wielded by the greatest swordsman in the world."

Zoro nodded. He prepared himself to use his ultimate technique. "Let's end this then. _Three Sword Style Secret Technique: Three Thousand Worlds_!"

Mihawk needed no special move for this. He simply swung.

Zoro's two blades in his hands shattered on impact, while the blade in his mouth nearly flew out of the grip his teeth had on it. As it was, his neck and mouth became sore from the exertion he felt from forcing himself to hold onto it. His grip, neck, and the sword itself, all too great to break from the impact of Mihawk's, admittedly, half-hearted swing, caused his head to be twisted to allow Yoru, Mihawk's blade itself far too great shatter in response to the resistance Zoro showed, to pass him by.

He dropped the useless handles in his hands, and tossed the two useless sheathes for them away, drawing Wado's sheath, and putting the weapon away. Holding the weapon, sheathe and all, in one hand, he turned and held his arms open wide as he face Mihawk head on.

Mihawk blinked, wondering if he'd truly found a real swordsman.

"What are you doing?" he asked, hope barely tracing the edges of his voice.

Zoro explained. "Wounds on the back are a swordsman's shame!"

Mihawk displayed his first bit of emotion since he'd arrived, smiling as if he'd just stumbled upon the greatest of all treasures, as he raised Yoru. "Magnificent!"

And then he swung, and Zoro's world went red as he was blasted into the sea.

"Brother Zoro!" Yosaku and Johnny dove in to rescue him.

Luffy, heedless of the danger roared in rage, and launched himself at Mihawk. No one noticed, but not once did he need a platform to bound off of to continue on his path towards Mihawk, despite the vast distance between them, and his horizontal trajectory. Nor did they notice that he'd stopped in midair when his first punch missed, only to turn around and swing again. Not even Luffy noticed this, as his feet hit the ground again, and he swung unleashing all his rage.

Mihawk simply sheathed his sword and dodged as if avoiding a child's temper tantrum. "He's still alive."

Luffy halted, turning towards Johnny and Yosaku, who'd fished Zoro out of the water.

"Captain!" Zoro shouted, raising his sword high. "I'm sorry I lost. I swear to you, right here and now, I'll never lose again! Is that alright with you, Pirate King!"

Luffy's grinned, his anger gone. "That suits me just fine!"

"Pirate King?" Mihawk asked. "You've even bigger goals than your friend. Impressive. I came here to kill time and get through another boring day. Instead, I've had a truly wonderful day. I thank you for that."

Mihawk bounced over to his coffin shaped ship, with all the effort one might put into taking a step forward.

Kreig was having none of that. "Hold on a moment. You might be done here, but I'm not done with you!"

Mihawk scoffed, and slashed the water, unleashing torrent of water on him. When the wave subsided, Mihawk was just a dot in the distance.

"Luffy!" Nami shouted. "Two hours until lunch. That's how long we've got."

Luffy nodded. "Alright."

He raced back over to them. "I'm offering this to anyone who doesn't wish to die. Get lost. Swim back to shore. You'll have better luck swimming back to land than you will staying here and fighting me."

No one took the offer.

"Kill him!" Kreig shouted. "Kill them all! Don't harm the women though. They've still got some use."

Gin looked at his captain at that implication. "Captain... no. We can't do that! At least let them die too!"

Kreig back-handed him. "Are you questioning me, Gin?"

Gin shook with anger. "I... I..."

Whether the anger he felt was at himself, or at his captain, he didn't know. What he did know was that with the display today, his captain had proven only one thing to him. He wasn't the man Gin had thought him to be.

"Tell me, captain... why did you save me that day?"

"What? That should be obvious. To have a loyal powerful man under my command. But you've proven to be useless if you won't even follow orders." Kreig sneered.

Gin roared and swung with all his might, as he rose to his feet. The tonfa in his hand, with a cannon ball-like tip, crashed into Kreig's face sending the man into the sea.

Had Kreig not been a fearful coward at heart, he would have been able to swim to the surface and fight back. But he was, and he couldn't.

Wearing massive steel armour, and loaded down with all sorts of hidden weapons, Kreig sunk like a brick. Without time to hold his breath, Kreig had no air in his lungs to hold, and had instinctively tried to grab some breath when he realized this, getting nothing but water in his lungs. He was unconscious long before anyone even thought to go after him, and too deep to rescue by the time anyone did think of it. And too heavy for anyone except the injured Zoro, and water-weak Luffy to rescue to begin with.

Kreig's crew turned on Gin immediately. "Traitor!"

They attacked, and Gin barely managed to fight back in time.

Before he could be overwhelmed, Sanji and Luffy broke through them. The fight was entirely one-sided.

"Gin." one of the crew members said simply, glaring at him with nothing but a wrathful look in his eyes. He was large, easily ten feet tall, and had huge shields on his arms, back, and stomach. Each embedded with what seemed to be huge pearls.

"Pearl." Gin said sadly. "I'm sorry. Please, stand down. I don't want to hurt you."

"Allow me." Sanji stated. "I need to show the captain what I'm made of."

Pearl was strong, but Sanji was much stronger. Even with Pearl's fear of bleeding sending him into a berserker's rage, Sanji crushed him, knocking him unconscious, inside five minutes of fighting, without even getting injured. Most of it was just a display of his fighting style.

Gin sighed after the battle was done. "I'll load Pearl and the other unconscious men on a boat, and put the dead on what's left of the galleon, and burn it down. I guess I should take Pearl and the others and try and lead what's left of Kreig's crew."

"Or you could come with us. They consider you a traitor now, right? I don't think they'll listen to you. Leave the crew to that shield guy." Luffy said, holding his hand out.

Gin swallowed. "Why? Why do you want me on your crew?"

"Multiple reasons. You seem strong. You're a good guy. And you're not afraid to hit your captain when you feel he's betraying your trust." Luffy explained. "Most importantly, you know how to lead a large group of men. I eventually do plan on recruiting a large group of pirates, and having someone skilled at leading large groups already will be very helpful. You'll not only be useful to me, but you'll be necessary to help the command structure. I can't promise you'll be happy, but I can promise you'll be needed and appreciated for what you do. Most importantly, if you've got a dream, I not only want you to try for it, I demand that you do your best to achieve your dream. If you can't agree to that last bit, then tell me right now, so I can retract my offer."

Gin smiled. "I guess it's my best option. Alright... I suppose I can join you. My dream isn't very complex. All I want is to feel like I belong somewhere."

Luffy grinned. "Welcome aboard, Gin."

Zeff spoke up. "Thank you for your help, brat. In appreciation, Sanji is going to load up your kitchen with some food from our stores. I wish you luck on your journey kid. Not that you'll need it, eh?"

Luffy's grin, though it seemed impossible, got wider at this. The wonders of being made of rubber.

Two hours later saw Luffy and his crew leaving the Baratie Floating Restaurant. Nami making sure they'd make the absolute best time to get to her village

"When we get close to Cocoyashi village, you guys need to hide inside." she stated. "Otherwise, the Arlong pirate will think I've betrayed them, and sink the ship before it gets close, and just bring me back there on my own."

"But you did betray them." Luffy pointed out.

"Which I don't want them to think!" Nami shouted. "We need the element of surprise, or else not only will I be in danger, but my village will be too."

"There's still about a week till we get there." Luffy said suddenly. "The deadline is a day or two after that, right?"

"Yes."

"Then we've got a week to train. You're training too this time." Luffy told her. "Kaya, you can alternate between taking care of Zoro, and following Nami's sailing directives, okay?"

"Yes, captain!" Kaya nodded, still working on stitching Zoro's wound.

"How long until he's healthy again?"

Kaya shook her head. "I don't know. Even if you and him weren't battle freaks who healed abnormally fast, I'd still be unable to tell you that. I doubt he'll be fighting fit by the time we get to Cocoyashi and Arlong Park though."

Luffy nodded. "Alright. Everybody else, get to the main deck. We're going to go over the training schedule this week, and then Sanji can make us lunch. Once we're done eating, we'll get started on training."

"Aye, captain!" came the response, varied in wording thought it was.

"This time next week, I want us to be eating sushi!" Luffy roared, getting grins of approval from Nami, Sanji, Gin, Yosaku, Johnny, and Jango, while Usopp and Kaya pondered whether or not it would be a form of cannibalism, since fishmen were vaguely human-like.

Either way, this would be the first real test he and his crew would face as a crew. And that just made Luffy all giddy inside.

 _ **~Chapter End~**_

Still feel like I'm doing something wrong with Sanji, but I'm hoping as time goes on, I'll get better with him. I hope you can bear with it for now, or that perhaps I'm not doing something wrong with him, and I'm worrying for nothing.

I know Gin is overdone as a recruit in stories where Luffy recruits more people, but hopefully my reasoning for it is understandable, cause he does have experience leading a lot of people, even if Kreig didn't trust anyone but himself, so Gin will be able to teach Luffy and the others how to do so when and if they ever recruit a large group of pirates.

Here are the power levels for characters who fought in this chapter, for those curious.

 _Luffy: 3,400_

 _Zoro: 2,400_

 _(Injured) 200_

 _Gin: 1,_ _1_ _1_ _5_

 _Pearl: 900_

 _Kreig: 1,000_

 _Mihawk:_ _7,_ _0_ _5_ _0,_ _0_ _00_

 _Sanji: 1,_ _114_

For those who care about power levels, yes, that means Mihawk is literally more than 2,000 times stronger than Luffy at the moment. In fact, he's about 2,073 times stronger than Luffy. And he's not even the strongest guy in this series. But of course, Luffy is a saiyan in this, and we all know the kind of strength he gained in Canon. And saiyans gain strength much faster than humans.


End file.
